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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rash — a series
  4. lean — to bend
  5. face — part of the head
  6. lean — thin
  7. face — to confront
  8. kid — to tease
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. bound — tied together
  11. kid — child
  12. bound — obliged
  13. face — to point toward
  14. cold — not warm
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. rash — hasty
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. bound — certain
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. branch — a division
  21. row — to paddle
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. row — a line

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