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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. cold — not warm
  3. fall — to drop
  4. spell — a short time
  5. fall — the season
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. fall — to drop
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. firm — steady
  13. firm — decided
  14. spell — magic
  15. branch — a division
  16. firm — a company
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. file — a document
  20. file — a line of people
  21. band — a music group
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. band — a ring
  24. file — a tool

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