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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 116 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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. field — a subject
  3. file — a line of people
  4. spring — of water
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. snap — to click
  8. game — a match
  9. game — wild animals
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. field — for sport
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. file — a tool
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. field — farmland
  19. lean — thin
  20. wake — a trail
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — a coil
  24. file — a document

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