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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. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. dip — to sink
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. fall — to drop
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. ground — a position
  9. shower — rain
  10. shower — to wash
  11. ground — crushed
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. clip — for paper
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. clip — a video
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. fall — to drop
  19. fall — the season
  20. ground — the earth
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. clip — to cut
  23. bank — of a river
  24. bank — for money

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