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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: pop · straw · patient · mine · bat · perch · lean · track

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. lean — thin
  7. track — to keep track
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. track — a song
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. pop — soda
  14. pop — to visit
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. pop — music
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. bat — the animal
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. track — a path
  22. mine — for digging
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. perch — the fish

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