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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: current · net · bat · wax · bark · pop · drill · wound

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. net — after costs
  5. drill — the tool
  6. bat — the animal
  7. drill — a practice
  8. current — happening now
  9. bark — to shout
  10. drill — army training
  11. net — for catching
  12. current — electric
  13. wound — an injury
  14. current — of water
  15. pop — soda
  16. net — in sport
  17. pop — music
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. wax — to grow
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. bat — for baseball

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