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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. fall — to drop
  3. court — of law
  4. fall — to drop
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. file — a document
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. ground — crushed
  9. fall — the season
  10. pitch — completely
  11. ground — a position
  12. last — final
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. court — for sport
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. file — a tool
  18. last — to go on
  19. court — of a king
  20. ground — the earth
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. last — finally
  23. file — a line of people
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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