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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. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. land — to come down
  5. snap — to click
  6. foot — a measure
  7. pop — soda
  8. scale — in music
  9. pop — to visit
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. degree — from a university
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. land — ground
  14. land — a country
  15. pop — music
  16. scale — size or range
  17. degree — an amount
  18. lean — to bend
  19. cold — not warm
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. lean — thin
  22. degree — temperature
  23. cold — an illness
  24. scale — for weighing

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