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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — finally
  3. lean — to bend
  4. lean — thin
  5. last — to go on
  6. bat — the animal
  7. scale — size or range
  8. kid — child
  9. kid — to tease
  10. bound — obliged
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. spell — letters
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. spell — magic
  15. scale — in music
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. lie — to recline
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. spell — a short time
  21. bound — tied together
  22. bound — certain
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. bat — for baseball

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