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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.

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: fan · bark · rock · cold · dip · wax · swing · plane

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — not warm
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. swing — music
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. rock — music
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. dip — to sink
  12. swing — to play on
  13. wax — to grow
  14. bark — to shout
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. swing — in golf
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. rock — a stone
  24. plane — a tool

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