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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: field · spring · fan · lean · game · straw · kick · swing

  1. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. lean — thin
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. kick — in football
  5. field — a subject
  6. swing — music
  7. spring — the season
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. swing — to play on
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. game — a match
  14. game — wild animals
  15. field — for sport
  16. spring — a coil
  17. field — farmland
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. swing — in golf
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. lean — to bend
  22. spring — of water
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. straw — dry grass

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