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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. game — wild animals
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. fall — to drop
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. content — the amount
  7. spring — of water
  8. bass — the fish
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. present — there
  11. present — the time now
  12. wound — an injury
  13. spring — the season
  14. game — a match
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. spring — a coil
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. content — happy
  20. present — a gift
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. fall — the season
  24. bass — low music

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