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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. plane — a tool
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. swing — in golf
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wound — an injury
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — from crying
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. lean — to bend
  13. swing — to play on
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. lean — thin
  18. cold — not warm
  19. stem — to come from
  20. pitch — completely
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. tear — to rip
  23. swing — music
  24. plane — an aircraft

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