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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. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. row — a line
  4. fall — to drop
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — in cards
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. drill — army training
  12. cold — not warm
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. cold — an illness
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. drill — a practice
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. fork — in a road
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. row — to paddle
  23. drill — the tool
  24. fall — the season

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