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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. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — for spectators
  2. cold — an illness
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. stand — to bear
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. date — the fruit
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. lean — to bend
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. key — the most important part
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. scale — in music
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. cold — not warm
  16. row — a line
  17. lean — thin
  18. scale — size or range
  19. key — for a lock
  20. row — to paddle
  21. key — in music
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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