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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 120 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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. cell — a phone
  3. cell — in biology
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. cap — a lid
  7. capital — a city
  8. press — to push
  9. cap — a hat
  10. fall — the season
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. fall — to drop
  13. fork — in a road
  14. spring — the season
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. capital — money
  17. spring — of water
  18. press — newspapers
  19. cap — of ice
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. press — a publisher
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. rush — hurry
  24. spring — a coil

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