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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

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

Word bank: wound · content · degree · wax · bark · march · swing · track

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. content — the amount
  4. degree — temperature
  5. wax — to grow
  6. track — a path
  7. wound — an injury
  8. swing — in golf
  9. wound — an injury
  10. track — to keep track
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. track — a song
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. degree — an amount
  15. degree — from a university
  16. march — the month
  17. swing — music
  18. swing — to play on
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. bark — to shout
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. march — music
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. march — the month

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