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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. key — the most important part
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. fall — the season
  5. field — a subject
  6. content — happy
  7. fall — to drop
  8. file — a document
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. spring — the season
  11. field — farmland
  12. foot — a measure
  13. file — a line of people
  14. spring — of water
  15. field — for sport
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. key — in music
  18. key — for a lock
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. file — a tool
  21. spring — a coil
  22. content — the amount
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. foot — part of the body

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