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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · swing · game · scale · cold · fan · chest · trunk

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. scale — size or range
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. game — a match
  5. game — wild animals
  6. chest — of your body
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. swing — in golf
  9. swing — music
  10. lean — to bend
  11. swing — to play on
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. cold — not warm
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. chest — of your body
  18. scale — in music
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. chest — a box
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. cold — an illness
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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