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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. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. band — a music group
  3. lean — to bend
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. band — a ring
  6. field — a subject
  7. scale — in music
  8. cold — not warm
  9. capital — a city
  10. lean — thin
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. mate — a partner
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. field — farmland
  16. mate — to breed
  17. scale — size or range
  18. vault — a safe
  19. field — for sport
  20. cold — an illness
  21. capital — money
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. mate — a friend

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