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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. march — music
  3. root — the cause
  4. fall — to drop
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. season — in sport
  7. march — the month
  8. band — a ring
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. bass — the fish
  11. root — of a plant
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. file — a tool
  15. season — of the year
  16. fall — the season
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. root — of a word
  20. march — the month
  21. file — a line of people
  22. bass — low music
  23. band — a music group
  24. file — a document

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