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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. We're on a ________________ here.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — on a roll
  2. cold — an illness
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. fall — to drop
  5. branch — a division
  6. cold — not warm
  7. capital — money
  8. fall — to drop
  9. squash — the sport
  10. fall — the season
  11. shower — to wash
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — a city
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. roll — a cake
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. shower — rain
  23. roll — a list
  24. squash — to crush

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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