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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: drill · net · perch · wax · current · cold · land · tube

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. wax — to grow
  3. net — in sport
  4. current — happening now
  5. net — for catching
  6. land — to come down
  7. current — electric
  8. cold — not warm
  9. net — after costs
  10. current — of water
  11. cold — an illness
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. drill — army training
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. drill — a practice
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. land — ground
  20. tube — the underground
  21. tube — a container
  22. perch — the fish
  23. land — a country
  24. drill — the 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