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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. pit — in a race
  3. spell — magic
  4. fall — the season
  5. cold — not warm
  6. fall — to drop
  7. cell — in biology
  8. file — a document
  9. pit — a hole
  10. file — a tool
  11. perch — the fish
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. cold — an illness
  15. last — to go on
  16. last — final
  17. spell — a short time
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. last — finally
  21. cell — a phone
  22. fall — to drop
  23. file — a line of people
  24. spell — letters

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