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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. net — in sport
  3. sharp — clever
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. net — after costs
  6. lean — thin
  7. net — for catching
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. ground — a position
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. fall — the season
  12. band — a ring
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. band — a music group
  15. lean — to bend
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bear — the animal
  18. bear — the animal
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. fall — to drop
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. ground — crushed
  23. ground — the earth
  24. cold — not warm

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