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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. fall — to drop
  3. pitch — completely
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. degree — an amount
  6. cold — an illness
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. hand — in cards
  12. fall — the season
  13. cold — not warm
  14. object — to protest
  15. wax — to grow
  16. content — the amount
  17. content — happy
  18. object — a thing
  19. degree — from a university
  20. hand — help
  21. degree — temperature
  22. object — an aim
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. hand — part of the body

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