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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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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. spell — a short time
  6. branch — a division
  7. spell — magic
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. fall — to drop
  10. bass — low music
  11. fall — the season
  12. cold — an illness
  13. fall — to drop
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. land — a country
  16. land — ground
  17. spell — letters
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. bore — to drill
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bass — the fish
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. land — to come down

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