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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: key · date · wax · last · row · cell · bark · straw

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. cell — a phone
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. key — in music
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. key — the most important part
  12. key — for a lock
  13. date — the fruit
  14. cell — in biology
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. last — final
  18. row — to paddle
  19. bark — to shout
  20. last — finally
  21. row — a line
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. last — to go on

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