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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. content — happy
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. race — a contest
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. drill — a practice
  8. race — humankind
  9. ball — a great time
  10. lean — thin
  11. band — a music group
  12. saw — the tool
  13. drill — the tool
  14. bear — the animal
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. ball — a dance
  18. bear — the animal
  19. race — the arms race
  20. content — the amount
  21. band — a ring
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. drill — army training
  24. saw — the tool

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