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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 116 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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. ground — a position
  3. ground — crushed
  4. lean — to bend
  5. fork — in a road
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. fall — to drop
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. fall — the season
  11. last — finally
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. bark — to shout
  14. lean — thin
  15. degree — temperature
  16. ground — the earth
  17. last — to go on
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. degree — from a university
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. fall — to drop
  22. lie — to recline
  23. degree — an amount
  24. lean — to rest against

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