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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. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. fall — the season
  3. pop — music
  4. drill — a practice
  5. march — music
  6. fall — to drop
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. drill — army training
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. pop — soda
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. march — the month
  15. cell — a phone
  16. fall — to drop
  17. cell — in biology
  18. drill — the tool
  19. march — the month
  20. plane — a tool
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. pop — to visit
  24. plane — in geometry

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