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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 120 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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. file — a line of people
  4. chest — of your body
  5. ball — a great time
  6. clip — for paper
  7. wave — of the sea
  8. net — in sport
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. fall — the season
  11. fall — to drop
  12. file — a tool
  13. chest — of your body
  14. pound — a weight
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. ball — a dance
  18. chest — a box
  19. file — a document
  20. net — for catching
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — a video
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. net — after costs

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