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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: chest · arm · lean · toast · cell · leaves · cold · straw

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. cold — not warm
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. cell — a phone
  7. lean — to bend
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. toast — the most admired
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. chest — of your body
  14. toast — bread
  15. cold — an illness
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. lean — thin
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. cell — in biology
  20. chest — of your body
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. chest — a box
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. toast — a drink to someone

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