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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: cue · lean · charge · straw · cold · stick · wind · bat

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. The tickets are free of ________________.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. lean — to bend
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. wind — moving air
  5. charge — a price
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. cue — a signal
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. cue — a hint
  12. charge — electricity
  13. cold — not warm
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. cold — an illness
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. cue — for pool
  18. bat — the animal
  19. wind — moving air
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. charge — in control
  24. lean — to rest against

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