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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: bark · cold · chest · spring · drill · wax · straw · press

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. press — newspapers
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. spring — the season
  5. cold — an illness
  6. drill — a practice
  7. drill — the tool
  8. press — to push
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. wax — to grow
  12. spring — of water
  13. press — a publisher
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. cold — not warm
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bark — to shout
  20. spring — a coil
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. chest — of your body
  23. drill — army training
  24. chest — a box

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