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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 120 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 always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — lets stay
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. row — a line
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. shower — to wash
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. shower — rain
  10. saw — the tool
  11. bark — to shout
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. saw — the tool
  15. lean — thin
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. mine — for digging
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. row — to paddle
  21. bat — the animal
  22. lean — to bend
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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