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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 124 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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. file — a line of people
  6. stock — shares
  7. land — ground
  8. bound — tied together
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. stock — goods
  12. land — a country
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. land — to come down
  15. file — a document
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. wax — to grow
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. file — a tool
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. bound — obliged
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. bark — to shout
  24. bound — certain

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