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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.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. snap — to click
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. row — a line
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. row — to paddle
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. object — a thing
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. chest — of your body
  12. lean — thin
  13. chest — of your body
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. chest — a box
  16. lean — to bend
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. object — an aim

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