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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. wind — moving air
  3. land — a country
  4. bear — the animal
  5. fall — the season
  6. march — the month
  7. bear — the animal
  8. capital — money
  9. capital — a city
  10. fall — to drop
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. ground — the earth
  13. wind — moving air
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. ground — crushed
  16. face — to point toward
  17. land — ground
  18. land — to come down
  19. face — part of the head
  20. face — to confront
  21. march — the month
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. march — music
  24. ground — a position

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