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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. fall — to drop
  4. spell — a short time
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. fall — to drop
  7. saw — the tool
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. spell — letters
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. spell — magic
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. file — a line of people
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — to rip
  16. bulb — for light
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. file — a document
  19. file — a tool
  20. tear — from crying
  21. fall — the season
  22. saw — the tool
  23. bulb — for light
  24. bowl — a football final

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