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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. fall — the season
  3. spring — the season
  4. fall — to drop
  5. lean — to bend
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. net — in sport
  8. net — after costs
  9. scale — in music
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. scale — size or range
  12. fall — to drop
  13. lean — thin
  14. degree — from a university
  15. net — for catching
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. spring — of water
  21. degree — temperature
  22. kid — child
  23. spring — a coil
  24. degree — an amount

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