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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. cold — an illness
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. track — a path
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. fall — the season
  7. track — to keep track
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. fall — to drop
  10. fall — to drop
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. game — a match
  14. plane — a tool
  15. pound — a weight
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. cold — not warm
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. track — a song
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. wound — an injury
  24. game — wild animals

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