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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. When will it ________________ you to start?
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. shower — to wash
  3. fall — to drop
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. shower — rain
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. suit — in cards
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. bat — the animal
  10. saw — the tool
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. fall — the season
  15. suit — clothes
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. chest — of your body
  18. suit — to fit
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. rule — government
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. rule — a law
  23. saw — the tool
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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