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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: cell · bark · fall · date · wax · band · wound · bass

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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. band — a ring
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. bass — the fish
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. wax — to grow
  8. fall — to drop
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. wound — an injury
  11. bark — to shout
  12. cell — a phone
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. fall — the season
  15. band — a music group
  16. fall — to drop
  17. cell — in biology
  18. wound — an injury
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. bass — low music
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. date — the fruit
  24. cell — in a prison

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