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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. spell — a short time
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. file — a document
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. root — the cause
  8. root — of a word
  9. file — a line of people
  10. band — a ring
  11. spell — magic
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. perch — the fish
  14. fall — to drop
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. file — a tool
  18. band — a music group
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — money
  22. spell — letters
  23. fall — the season
  24. root — of a plant

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