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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. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. bound — certain
  4. fall — to drop
  5. can — a tin
  6. fall — to drop
  7. cold — not warm
  8. drill — the tool
  9. bound — obliged
  10. bat — the animal
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. fall — the season
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. cold — an illness
  15. can — to be able to
  16. bound — tied together
  17. can — a tin
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. drill — a practice
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. branch — a division

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