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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. stand — to bear
  4. fall — to drop
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — from crying
  9. fall — to drop
  10. spell — magic
  11. cold — an illness
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. rush — hurry
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. field — a subject
  16. tear — to rip
  17. spell — a short time
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — farmland
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. cold — not warm
  22. fall — the season
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. stand — on your feet

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