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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. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. stand — to bear
  3. cold — not warm
  4. lean — to bend
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. track — to keep track
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. branch — a division
  12. cold — an illness
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. mine — for digging
  16. track — a path
  17. file — a line of people
  18. file — a document
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. file — a tool
  22. track — a song
  23. lean — thin
  24. branch — of a bank

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