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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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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: club · mine · last · mug · bark · degree · wax · patient

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Where did you ________________ them?
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. last — to go on
  3. last — final
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. degree — temperature
  6. club — for dancing
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. degree — from a university
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. wax — to grow
  12. last — finally
  13. club — a group
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. mug — a cup
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. mine — for digging
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. mug — to rob
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. bark — to shout
  23. mug — a face
  24. degree — an amount

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