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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. capital — money
  3. toast — bread
  4. toast — a drink to someone
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. bat — the animal
  7. cold — not warm
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. toast — the most admired
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. plane — a tool
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. row — to paddle
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. lean — to bend
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. cold — an illness
  23. row — a line
  24. plane — an aircraft

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