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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: straw · wave · wax · racket · land · cold · bark · chair

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. chair — a leader
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wax — to grow
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. land — a country
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. bark — to shout
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. land — to come down
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. land — ground
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. straw — dry grass

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