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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: pitcher · bark · mouse · chest · swing · cell · wound · wax

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. swing — in golf
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. swing — to play on
  5. chest — of your body
  6. cell — a phone
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. swing — music
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. wound — an injury
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. cell — in biology
  17. bark — to shout
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. chest — of your body
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. chest — a box
  24. pitcher — in 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