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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. object — a thing
  3. spring — the season
  4. cold — an illness
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. lean — to bend
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. wound — an injury
  9. object — to protest
  10. lean — thin
  11. wound — an injury
  12. spring — of water
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. swing — in golf
  15. spring — a coil
  16. cold — not warm
  17. content — happy
  18. object — an aim
  19. content — the amount
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. swing — music

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