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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. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. mark — a trace
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. chest — of your body
  6. file — a tool
  7. lean — thin
  8. lean — to bend
  9. mark — a grade
  10. stock — goods
  11. stock — shares
  12. wound — an injury
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. file — a line of people
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. spring — a coil
  17. chest — a box
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. chest — of your body
  20. plane — a tool
  21. wound — an injury
  22. spring — the season
  23. file — a document
  24. spring — of water

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