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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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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: cold · wax · cap · bark · spring · sharp · ground · rock

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. cold — not warm
  3. ground — crushed
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. spring — a coil
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. spring — of water
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. ground — a position
  10. wax — to grow
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. spring — the season
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. rock — a stone
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. ground — the earth
  17. cap — a lid
  18. rock — music
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cap — of ice
  21. sharp — clever
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. cap — a hat
  24. bark — to shout

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