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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. drill — army training
  3. clip — for paper
  4. march — the month
  5. fall — to drop
  6. bound — tied together
  7. court — for sport
  8. bound — obliged
  9. fall — the season
  10. track — a song
  11. drill — the tool
  12. bear — the animal
  13. march — music
  14. track — to keep track
  15. drill — a practice
  16. court — of law
  17. clip — a video
  18. track — a path
  19. court — of a king
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bound — certain
  22. bear — the animal
  23. march — the month
  24. bear — to put up with

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