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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: straw · pop · press · wax · degree · date · tear · bark

  1. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. press — a publisher
  2. pop — soda
  3. tear — from crying
  4. pop — music
  5. date — the fruit
  6. degree — temperature
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. degree — an amount
  9. tear — from crying
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. press — newspapers
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. pop — to visit
  14. bark — to shout
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. wax — to grow
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. press — to push
  20. tear — to rip
  21. degree — from a university
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. wax — for sculpting

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