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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: wax · file · mine · degree · fall · spell · bark · last

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. last — final
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. degree — temperature
  6. file — a line of people
  7. fall — to drop
  8. file — a tool
  9. spell — a short time
  10. fall — to drop
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. last — finally
  13. last — to go on
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. fall — the season
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. spell — magic
  18. degree — an amount
  19. file — a document
  20. bark — to shout
  21. wax — to grow
  22. mine — for digging
  23. degree — from a university
  24. bark — of a tree

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