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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. bass — the fish
  3. spring — of water
  4. hand — in cards
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. tear — from crying
  7. bass — low music
  8. tear — from crying
  9. last — to go on
  10. ground — crushed
  11. hand — help
  12. fall — to drop
  13. ground — a position
  14. tear — to rip
  15. spring — the season
  16. last — final
  17. fall — to drop
  18. spring — a coil
  19. track — a path
  20. track — to keep track
  21. last — finally
  22. track — a song
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. ground — the earth

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