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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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Word bank
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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 · wind · clip · wound · sharp · game · swing · stem

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. clip — a video
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. game — a match
  7. wound — an injury
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. sharp — clever
  12. game — wild animals
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. clip — to cut
  15. stem — to come from
  16. swing — music
  17. wind — moving air
  18. lean — to bend
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. swing — in golf
  21. swing — to play on
  22. wound — an injury
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. clip — for paper

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