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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: wind · degree · wax · bark · swing · shower · court · hide

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. wind — moving air
  5. shower — rain
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. degree — an amount
  8. swing — in golf
  9. shower — to wash
  10. court — of law
  11. wax — to grow
  12. degree — from a university
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. wind — moving air
  16. swing — music
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. bark — to shout
  20. court — of a king
  21. degree — temperature
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. swing — to play on

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