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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 116 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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468
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. fall — to drop
  3. kid — child
  4. file — a tool
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. file — a document
  8. row — to paddle
  9. cell — in biology
  10. kid — to tease
  11. prune — to trim
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. row — a line
  14. court — of a king
  15. fall — to drop
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. file — a line of people
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. court — of law
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. cell — a phone
  23. fall — the season
  24. prune — to trim

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