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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: game · ground · straw · degree · wax · board · bark · spring

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. wax — to grow
  3. ground — crushed
  4. bark — to shout
  5. ground — the earth
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. degree — from a university
  8. board — a committee
  9. spring — a coil
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. game — a match
  12. game — wild animals
  13. spring — of water
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. spring — the season
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. board — to get on
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. degree — an amount
  24. degree — temperature

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