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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. cap — a hat
  3. bat — the animal
  4. staff — a stick
  5. clip — a video
  6. staff — employees
  7. cap — of ice
  8. cap — a lid
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. staff — employees
  11. cell — in biology
  12. clip — to cut
  13. lean — thin
  14. clip — for paper
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. shower — rain
  17. shower — to wash
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. mouse — for a computer
  22. cell — a phone
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. bat — in an idiom

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