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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. fall — to drop
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. clip — a video
  6. key — in music
  7. mine — for digging
  8. key — for a lock
  9. spell — a short time
  10. scale — in music
  11. spell — magic
  12. scale — size or range
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. wind — moving air
  15. spell — letters
  16. wind — moving air
  17. fall — the season
  18. key — the most important part
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. fall — to drop
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. clip — for paper

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