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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. file — a tool
  4. bat — the animal
  5. present — the time now
  6. fall — the season
  7. fall — to drop
  8. kick — in football
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. court — of a king
  11. fall — to drop
  12. lean — thin
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. court — of law
  15. cap — of ice
  16. cap — a lid
  17. present — a gift
  18. present — there
  19. file — a line of people
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. cap — a hat
  22. court — for sport
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. file — a document

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