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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. cold — an illness
  5. march — the month
  6. lean — thin
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. object — to protest
  11. object — a thing
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. march — music
  14. cold — not warm
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. game — wild animals
  18. game — a match
  19. march — the month
  20. object — an aim
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. kid — child
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. kid — to tease

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