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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 116 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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. pop — music
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. bore — to tire
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bore — to drill
  8. row — a line
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. pop — soda
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. row — to paddle
  17. pop — to visit
  18. chair — a leader
  19. lean — thin
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. wax — to grow
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — calm and waiting

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