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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. track — a song
  3. season — of the year
  4. fall — to drop
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. track — to keep track
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. cell — in biology
  9. track — a path
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. mine — for digging
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. cell — a phone
  15. fall — the season
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. game — wild animals
  20. game — a match
  21. chair — a leader
  22. season — in sport
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. chair — to sit on

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