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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 ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. chest — of your body
  4. root — of a word
  5. lean — thin
  6. game — a match
  7. rash — a series
  8. game — wild animals
  9. current — electric
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. root — of a plant
  12. march — the month
  13. root — the cause
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. rash — hasty
  16. chest — a box
  17. march — music
  18. sharp — clever
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. current — of water
  21. march — the month
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. chest — of your body
  24. current — happening now

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