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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. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. field — for sport
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. hand — help
  6. lean — to bend
  7. wind — moving air
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. wind — moving air
  11. field — farmland
  12. hand — in cards
  13. cold — not warm
  14. clip — for paper
  15. rash — a series
  16. firm — a company
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. field — a subject
  19. firm — steady
  20. firm — decided
  21. rash — hasty
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — a video
  24. lean — thin

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