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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. object — an aim
  3. mine — for digging
  4. degree — from a university
  5. rash — a series
  6. cold — not warm
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. object — a thing
  9. chest — of your body
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. rash — hasty
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. chest — a box
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bank — for money
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. degree — an amount
  19. cold — an illness
  20. degree — temperature
  21. lean — thin
  22. object — to protest
  23. bank — of a river
  24. bank — for money

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