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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. mate — a partner
  3. mate — a friend
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. ground — crushed
  6. lean — to bend
  7. clip — to cut
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. cold — an illness
  11. clip — a video
  12. ground — the earth
  13. pound — a weight
  14. ground — a position
  15. foot — a measure
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. cold — not warm
  20. mate — to breed
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. clip — for paper
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. cold — the Cold War

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