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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: lean · land · squash · straw · capital · vault · clip · kid

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. clip — to cut
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. land — a country
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. vault — in gymnastics
  9. kid — child
  10. squash — the sport
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. vault — a safe
  13. clip — for paper
  14. squash — to crush
  15. clip — a video
  16. kid — to tease
  17. capital — a city
  18. land — ground
  19. capital — money
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. lean — thin
  24. land — to come down

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