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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. My mare is ________________ in color.
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. court — for sport
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. cold — an illness
  5. foot — a measure
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. court — of law
  8. board — to get on
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bay — a horse colour
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. shower — to wash
  14. board — a committee
  15. foot — part of the body
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. court — of a king
  18. row — a line
  19. row — to paddle
  20. cold — not warm
  21. lean — thin
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. shower — rain
  24. board — a flat piece

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