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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 116 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: wax · spring · firm · bark · club · game · degree · content

  1. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. content — the amount
  3. firm — steady
  4. firm — decided
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. spring — the season
  9. content — happy
  10. game — wild animals
  11. degree — an amount
  12. bark — to shout
  13. degree — from a university
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. game — a match
  17. spring — a coil
  18. club — for golf
  19. degree — temperature
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. spring — of water
  22. wax — to grow
  23. club — a group
  24. firm — a company

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