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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 dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. shower — rain
  5. spell — letters
  6. root — of a word
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — the season
  9. wound — an injury
  10. wind — moving air
  11. shower — to wash
  12. wound — an injury
  13. root — of a plant
  14. bass — the fish
  15. spell — magic
  16. bass — low music
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. spell — a short time
  20. root — the cause
  21. degree — an amount
  22. degree — from a university
  23. wind — moving air
  24. degree — temperature

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