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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 116 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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. lean — to bend
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. tear — to rip
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. tear — from crying
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. land — to come down
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — an injury
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cell — in biology
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cell — a phone
  19. land — ground
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. land — a country
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. racket — for tennis

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