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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. fall — to drop
  4. snap — to click
  5. fall — the season
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. mug — a cup
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. kick — in football
  13. fall — to drop
  14. capital — money
  15. mug — a face
  16. stem — to come from
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. roll — a cake
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. roll — a list
  21. mug — to rob
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. capital — a city
  24. roll — on a roll

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