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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. cold — not warm
  3. foot — a measure
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. fall — the season
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. foot — the bottom
  11. tear — from crying
  12. fall — to drop
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. capital — a city
  15. pound — a weight
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — to rip
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. capital — money
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. mouse — the animal

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