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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 King held a masked ________________.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. ball — a dance
  3. fall — the season
  4. ball — a great time
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. cold — an illness
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. ground — the earth
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. cold — not warm
  11. ground — a position
  12. pop — soda
  13. plane — a tool
  14. pop — music
  15. pop — to visit
  16. fall — to drop
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. ground — crushed
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. degree — an amount

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