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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 116 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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. fall — the season
  3. board — a committee
  4. land — to come down
  5. ball — a dance
  6. clip — a video
  7. club — a group
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. net — in sport
  10. fall — to drop
  11. clip — for paper
  12. board — to get on
  13. club — for golf
  14. cold — an illness
  15. land — ground
  16. land — a country
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. cold — not warm
  19. clip — to cut
  20. net — after costs
  21. net — for catching
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. club — for dancing
  24. ball — a great time

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