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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. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. clip — a video
  4. cold — not warm
  5. ruler — a monarch
  6. rock — a stone
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. clip — for paper
  10. file — a tool
  11. rash — hasty
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. lean — thin
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. rash — a series
  16. file — a line of people
  17. rock — music
  18. file — a document
  19. rock — to move gently
  20. clip — to cut
  21. pound — a weight
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. ruler — for measuring

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