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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.

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: bark · ball · cell · march · fan · spring · degree · wax

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. bark — to shout
  4. cell — a phone
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. wax — to grow
  9. march — music
  10. march — the month
  11. degree — temperature
  12. degree — from a university
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. degree — an amount
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. spring — a coil
  18. march — the month
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. cell — in biology
  22. spring — the season
  23. ball — a dance
  24. ball — a great time

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