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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. spell — letters
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. mate — a partner
  5. spell — a short time
  6. tube — a container
  7. kid — to tease
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. fall — the season
  10. mate — to breed
  11. drill — army training
  12. tube — the underground
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. mate — a friend
  15. bound — tied together
  16. bound — obliged
  17. bound — certain
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. spell — magic
  20. drill — the tool
  21. kid — child
  22. drill — a practice
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. fall — to drop

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