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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. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. clip — for paper
  3. scale — in music
  4. fall — to drop
  5. fall — to drop
  6. tear — to rip
  7. tear — from crying
  8. fall — the season
  9. saw — the tool
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. cell — a phone
  12. clip — to cut
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. scale — size or range
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. clip — a video
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. tear — from crying
  22. cell — in biology
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. saw — the tool

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