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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. club — for golf
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. season — of the year
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. wind — moving air
  10. land — ground
  11. fall — the season
  12. season — in sport
  13. fall — to drop
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. wake — a trail
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. land — to come down
  18. wind — moving air
  19. club — a group
  20. club — for dancing
  21. wax — to grow
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. land — a country
  24. cold — not warm

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