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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. row — a line
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. wind — moving air
  6. tube — a container
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. tube — the underground
  11. bat — the animal
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. lie — to recline
  15. fall — to drop
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. fall — the season
  19. fall — to drop
  20. wind — moving air
  21. chair — a leader
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. row — to paddle
  24. wind — to turn a key

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