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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — thin
  3. wind — moving air
  4. land — a country
  5. fine — all right
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. degree — an amount
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. race — the arms race
  10. land — ground
  11. land — to come down
  12. degree — temperature
  13. race — a contest
  14. tear — from crying
  15. race — humankind
  16. tear — to rip
  17. tear — from crying
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. wind — moving air
  21. fine — high quality
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. degree — from a university

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