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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. fall — to drop
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. march — music
  5. club — for dancing
  6. march — the month
  7. content — happy
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. fall — to drop
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. club — for golf
  12. club — a group
  13. lie — to recline
  14. content — the amount
  15. last — final
  16. kid — to tease
  17. kid — child
  18. fall — the season
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. march — the month
  21. last — to go on
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. last — finally
  24. roll — a list

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