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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. mate — a partner
  3. mate — a friend
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. wax — to grow
  6. march — music
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. spell — letters
  9. mate — to breed
  10. shower — rain
  11. shower — to wash
  12. fall — to drop
  13. fall — the season
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. march — the month
  18. spell — a short time
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. bark — to shout
  22. march — the month
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. spell — magic

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