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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. file — a document
  4. wound — an injury
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. row — to paddle
  7. staff — employees
  8. squash — to crush
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. wound — an injury
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. staff — a stick
  14. staff — employees
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. file — a tool
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. fall — the season
  19. squash — the sport
  20. fall — to drop
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. row — a line
  23. file — a line of people
  24. bat — the animal

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