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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. craft — a skill
  4. shower — to wash
  5. bat — the animal
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. chair — a leader
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. craft — boats
  18. cold — not warm
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. lean — thin
  23. shower — rain
  24. craft — a handicraft

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