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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 was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  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. mine — an explosive
  2. last — final
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. fall — to drop
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. chair — a leader
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. rest — a break
  9. rest — what's left
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. last — finally
  12. bat — the animal
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. rest — what's left
  15. tear — from crying
  16. last — to go on
  17. tear — to rip
  18. tear — from crying
  19. fall — the season
  20. mine — for digging
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  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