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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. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. rash — hasty
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. spring — the season
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. club — for golf
  8. content — the amount
  9. mug — to rob
  10. mug — a face
  11. land — ground
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. lean — thin
  14. content — happy
  15. land — a country
  16. club — a group
  17. spring — of water
  18. mug — a cup
  19. spring — a coil
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — an illness
  22. club — for dancing
  23. land — to come down
  24. rash — a series

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