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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. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. key — for a lock
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — the animal
  5. fall — the season
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. cell — in biology
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. drill — a practice
  11. date — the fruit
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. cell — a phone
  14. drill — the tool
  15. prune — to trim
  16. prune — to trim
  17. fall — to drop
  18. drill — army training
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. mine — for digging
  22. key — the most important part
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. key — in music

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