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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. swing — to play on
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. last — final
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. last — to go on
  9. fall — to drop
  10. last — finally
  11. tear — to rip
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. tear — from crying
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. row — a line
  16. tear — from crying
  17. swing — in golf
  18. row — to paddle
  19. fall — to drop
  20. fall — the season
  21. wind — moving air
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. wind — moving air
  24. swing — music

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