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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. fine — high quality
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. pop — music
  7. cold — not warm
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. wax — to grow
  11. hand — in cards
  12. pop — soda
  13. pop — to visit
  14. last — to go on
  15. fine — all right
  16. bark — to shout
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. cold — an illness
  21. last — final
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. last — finally
  24. fine — a penalty

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com