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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. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — not warm
  6. land — to come down
  7. bark — to shout
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. lean — thin
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. plane — a tool
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. land — a country
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bass — the fish
  19. land — ground
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bass — low music
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. mouse — the animal

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