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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: ball · bound · wake · cold · wax · pitcher · bark · tear

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  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. cold — an illness
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bound — tied together
  4. ball — a dance
  5. bound — certain
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. tear — from crying
  12. wax — to grow
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. bark — to shout
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. bound — obliged
  19. tear — to rip
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. tear — from crying
  23. wake — a trail
  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