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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 116 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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. content — happy
  3. deal — to handle
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. wound — an injury
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. file — a document
  9. chair — a leader
  10. wound — an injury
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. lean — thin
  15. wind — moving air
  16. file — a tool
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. content — the amount
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. fork — in a road
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. file — a line of people
  24. wind — moving air

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