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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. fall — to drop
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. tube — the underground
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. saw — the tool
  10. fall — the season
  11. squash — the sport
  12. tube — a container
  13. bat — the animal
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. cold — an illness
  20. saw — the tool
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. squash — to crush
  23. cold — not warm
  24. perch — the fish

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