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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. bound — certain
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. chair — a leader
  7. march — the month
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wind — moving air
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. wind — moving air
  12. scale — in music
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. bound — obliged
  15. march — music
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. march — the month
  18. date — the fruit
  19. bound — tied together
  20. lean — to bend
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. wound — an injury
  23. scale — size or range
  24. date — on the calendar

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