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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. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. fall — to drop
  3. cold — an illness
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. board — to get on
  6. board — a committee
  7. degree — an amount
  8. cold — not warm
  9. mine — for digging
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. degree — from a university
  12. track — a song
  13. track — a path
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. track — to keep track
  16. degree — temperature
  17. ball — a great time
  18. fall — the season
  19. chip — for betting
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. chip — to eat
  22. ball — a dance
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. board — a flat piece

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