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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: spring · bark · hand · season · dip · wax · chip · tube

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. wax — to grow
  3. hand — help
  4. tube — a container
  5. dip — to sink
  6. spring — a coil
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. chip — to eat
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. chip — for betting
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. bark — to shout
  13. spring — the season
  14. season — in sport
  15. hand — in cards
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. spring — of water
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. season — of the year
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. tube — the underground
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. hand — part of the body

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