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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. fall — to drop
  3. rush — hurry
  4. mark — a grade
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. dip — to sink
  7. spell — letters
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. swing — to play on
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. spell — magic
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. spell — a short time
  15. swing — in golf
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. swing — music
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. fall — to drop
  20. shower — rain
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. mark — a trace
  24. shower — to wash

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