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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. The ________________ market has crashed.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. stock — shares
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. court — for sport
  6. key — in music
  7. ball — a dance
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. cold — not warm
  10. court — of law
  11. key — the most important part
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. stock — goods
  16. land — ground
  17. land — to come down
  18. court — of a king
  19. ball — a great time
  20. land — a country
  21. fall — the season
  22. key — for a lock
  23. fall — to drop
  24. cold — an illness

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