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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. lean — to bend
  3. wind — moving air
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. wake — a trail
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. tube — a container
  10. lean — thin
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. tube — the underground
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. wind — moving air
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. fall — the season
  18. cold — an illness
  19. fall — to drop
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wake — before a funeral

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