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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. object — to protest
  4. object — a thing
  5. fall — to drop
  6. spring — the season
  7. track — a song
  8. land — to come down
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. track — a path
  11. land — ground
  12. dip — to sink
  13. fall — the season
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. bark — to shout
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. land — a country
  19. track — to keep track
  20. game — a match
  21. spring — a coil
  22. object — an aim
  23. spring — of water
  24. game — wild animals

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