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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. last — final
  3. fall — to drop
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. fall — to drop
  6. cold — not warm
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. stock — goods
  10. last — finally
  11. stock — shares
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. fall — the season
  14. track — a path
  15. track — to keep track
  16. track — a song
  17. clip — a video
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. clip — to cut
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. clip — for paper
  24. cold — an illness

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