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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. fall — to drop
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. bass — low music
  7. cold — not warm
  8. march — the month
  9. cold — an illness
  10. march — music
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. fall — the season
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. hand — help
  15. lean — thin
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. bass — the fish
  19. fall — to drop
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. wake — a trail
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. hand — in cards
  24. lean — to bend

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