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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. cold — an illness
  3. fine — all right
  4. squash — to crush
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. land — a country
  7. hand — help
  8. cold — not warm
  9. squash — the sport
  10. fine — high quality
  11. hand — in cards
  12. track — to keep track
  13. track — a song
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. lean — thin
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. track — a path
  21. board — a committee
  22. land — to come down
  23. land — ground
  24. board — to get on

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