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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. bat — the animal
  3. fall — to drop
  4. stem — to come from
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. pitch — completely
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. pop — music
  9. cap — a lid
  10. fall — to drop
  11. tear — to rip
  12. pop — soda
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. dip — to sink
  15. cap — of ice
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cap — a hat
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. fall — the season
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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