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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. lean — thin
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. degree — from a university
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. clip — a video
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. kid — to tease
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. march — music
  15. march — the month
  16. clip — to cut
  17. kid — child
  18. clip — for paper
  19. march — the month
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. wax — to grow
  22. degree — an amount
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. degree — temperature

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