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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 120 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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. cold — not warm
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. last — finally
  7. tear — to rip
  8. land — to come down
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. last — final
  11. tear — from crying
  12. last — to go on
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. cold — an illness
  16. fall — to drop
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. fall — to drop
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. land — ground
  21. land — a country
  22. prune — to trim
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. tear — from crying

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