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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. last — to go on
  3. fall — to drop
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. present — a gift
  6. wound — an injury
  7. degree — temperature
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wake — a trail
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. land — ground
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. land — a country
  14. scale — size or range
  15. degree — from a university
  16. degree — an amount
  17. fall — the season
  18. last — final
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. land — to come down
  21. last — finally
  22. fall — to drop
  23. scale — in music
  24. present — the time now

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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