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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  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 — thin
  2. race — a contest
  3. object — to protest
  4. race — humankind
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. lean — to bend
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. race — the arms race
  11. chest — of your body
  12. perch — the fish
  13. object — an aim
  14. wound — an injury
  15. chest — of your body
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. object — a thing
  20. bat — the animal
  21. chest — a box
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. wound — an injury
  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