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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. fall — to drop
  3. sharp — clever
  4. ground — the earth
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. spring — of water
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. ground — crushed
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. ground — a position
  18. fall — the season
  19. fall — to drop
  20. bat — the animal
  21. spring — a coil
  22. wake — a trail
  23. spring — the season
  24. fork — in a road

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