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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. lean — to bend
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. net — for catching
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. club — a group
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. chip — for betting
  10. net — in sport
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. chip — to eat
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. stem — to come from
  16. fall — to drop
  17. club — for golf
  18. fall — to drop
  19. cold — not warm
  20. club — for dancing
  21. net — after costs
  22. cold — an illness
  23. fall — the season
  24. lean — to rest against

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