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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. content — happy
  4. pop — music
  5. fall — the season
  6. spring — of water
  7. content — the amount
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. dip — to sink
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. scale — size or range
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. spring — a coil
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. spring — the season
  19. bat — the animal
  20. pop — to visit
  21. fall — to drop
  22. pop — soda
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. scale — in music

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