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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 116 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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. fall — to drop
  3. spell — magic
  4. fall — the season
  5. spell — a short time
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. mate — a friend
  8. spell — letters
  9. bass — low music
  10. band — a music group
  11. shower — to wash
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. band — a ring
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. cold — an illness
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. mate — a partner
  21. cold — not warm
  22. shower — rain
  23. mate — to breed
  24. fall — to drop

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