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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. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. stand — to bear
  3. clip — to cut
  4. chest — of your body
  5. present — a gift
  6. spring — a coil
  7. drill — army training
  8. row — a line
  9. spring — of water
  10. drill — a practice
  11. lean — to bend
  12. present — the time now
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. clip — for paper
  15. lean — thin
  16. clip — a video
  17. spring — the season
  18. present — there
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. chest — of your body
  21. row — to paddle
  22. chest — a box
  23. stand — on your feet
  24. drill — the tool

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