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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  19. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. cell — a phone
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. march — the month
  5. fall — the season
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. lean — to bend
  9. fall — to drop
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. wax — to grow
  12. march — the month
  13. kid — child
  14. cell — in biology
  15. lean — thin
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. ruler — a monarch
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. march — music
  22. spring — of water
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. kid — to tease

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