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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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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. wake — a trail
  3. fall — the season
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. swing — music
  6. rash — hasty
  7. fall — to drop
  8. track — a path
  9. root — of a word
  10. band — a ring
  11. track — a song
  12. track — to keep track
  13. band — a music group
  14. bat — the animal
  15. fall — to drop
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. swing — in golf
  18. root — of a plant
  19. rash — a series
  20. root — the cause
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. bat — for baseball

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