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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. spell — a short time
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. fall — the season
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. fall — to drop
  9. content — the amount
  10. spell — magic
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bark — to shout
  14. content — happy
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. fork — in a road
  17. last — final
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. last — to go on
  21. last — finally
  22. perch — the fish
  23. spell — letters
  24. perch — for a bird

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