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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. mark — a trace
  4. mark — a grade
  5. land — ground
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. fine — all right
  9. swing — to play on
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. bat — the animal
  12. swing — music
  13. fine — high quality
  14. swing — in golf
  15. land — to come down
  16. cold — not warm
  17. snap — to click
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. lean — to bend
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. land — a country
  24. cold — the Cold War

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