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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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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. kid — to tease
  3. clip — a video
  4. prune — to trim
  5. kid — child
  6. key — for a lock
  7. pop — music
  8. clip — to cut
  9. pop — to visit
  10. clip — for paper
  11. lean — thin
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. pop — soda
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. key — the most important part
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. cold — an illness
  20. key — in music
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. cold — not warm
  23. prune — to trim
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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