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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. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. spring — a coil
  3. row — a line
  4. fall — to drop
  5. file — a line of people
  6. current — of water
  7. land — ground
  8. row — to paddle
  9. file — a document
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. current — electric
  12. land — to come down
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. spring — of water
  15. file — a tool
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. spring — the season
  18. squash — to crush
  19. squash — the sport
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. current — happening now
  23. land — a country
  24. fall — the season

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