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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. mine — for digging
  3. swing — in golf
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. degree — an amount
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. kid — child
  9. face — to point toward
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. degree — from a university
  12. face — to confront
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. swing — to play on
  15. degree — temperature
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. kid — to tease
  19. face — part of the head
  20. lean — thin
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. pound — a weight
  24. swing — music

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