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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The tickets are free of ________________.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. content — the amount
  3. content — happy
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. ball — a dance
  6. charge — electricity
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. roll — a list
  9. spell — letters
  10. row — a line
  11. row — to paddle
  12. roll — a cake
  13. spell — a short time
  14. fall — to drop
  15. fall — the season
  16. bat — the animal
  17. charge — a price
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. spell — magic
  21. ball — a great time
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. charge — in control
  24. content — videos and posts

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