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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  24. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. prune — to trim
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. prune — to trim
  5. roll — a cake
  6. race — a contest
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. march — the month
  9. race — humankind
  10. march — music
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. fall — to drop
  13. race — the arms race
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. snap — to click
  16. game — a match
  17. roll — a list
  18. game — wild animals
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. fall — the season
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. march — the month
  23. safe — a strongbox
  24. safe — out of danger

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