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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — thin
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. court — for sport
  7. leaves — of a tree
  8. file — a tool
  9. court — of a king
  10. cold — an illness
  11. file — a document
  12. prune — to trim
  13. file — a line of people
  14. cold — not warm
  15. content — happy
  16. prune — to trim
  17. court — of law
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — to rip
  22. content — the amount
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. leaves — to go away

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