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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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. hand — in cards
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. wound — an injury
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. wound — an injury
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. sharp — clever
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. stem — to come from
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. lean — thin
  16. mine — for digging
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. content — the amount
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. hand — help
  24. sharp — exactly

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