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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. fall — to drop
  3. prune — to trim
  4. spell — a short time
  5. rest — what's left
  6. rest — what's left
  7. chest — of your body
  8. fall — to drop
  9. rest — a break
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. spell — letters
  12. march — music
  13. chest — a box
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. last — to go on
  16. march — the month
  17. chest — of your body
  18. spell — magic
  19. prune — to trim
  20. last — final
  21. fall — the season
  22. last — finally
  23. march — the month
  24. game — a match

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