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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 116 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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. clip — a video
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. clip — to cut
  6. row — a line
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. game — a match
  11. clip — for paper
  12. fall — the season
  13. row — to paddle
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. pop — to visit
  16. face — to confront
  17. pop — music
  18. game — wild animals
  19. pit — in a race
  20. face — to point toward
  21. pop — soda
  22. face — part of the head
  23. pit — a hole
  24. fall — to drop

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