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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. lean — to bend
  5. key — for a lock
  6. lean — thin
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wound — an injury
  9. file — a line of people
  10. prune — to trim
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. key — in music
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. file — a document
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. file — a tool
  19. wind — moving air
  20. key — the most important part
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. wind — moving air
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. prune — to trim

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