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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. fall — to drop
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. bass — low music
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. fall — to drop
  7. tear — from crying
  8. ground — crushed
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. fall — the season
  11. spell — letters
  12. bass — the fish
  13. spell — magic
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. tear — from crying
  16. ground — a position
  17. row — a line
  18. row — to paddle
  19. ground — the earth
  20. spell — a short time
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. tear — to rip
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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