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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 · snap · march · wax · bear · bark · bat · band

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. march — the month
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. game — wild animals
  5. game — a match
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. march — the month
  8. bear — the animal
  9. bear — the animal
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. march — music
  13. band — a music group
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bark — to shout
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. bat — the animal
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. wax — to grow
  22. band — a ring
  23. snap — to click
  24. band — a rubber band

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