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

Word bank: foot · lean · spring · cold · plane · row · stick · straw

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. spring — of water
  6. plane — a tool
  7. foot — the bottom
  8. lean — to bend
  9. foot — part of the body
  10. row — to paddle
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. foot — a measure
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. lean — thin
  17. spring — the season
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. cold — not warm
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. row — a line
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. plane — in geometry

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