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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. fall — to drop
  3. cell — a phone
  4. net — after costs
  5. net — in sport
  6. net — for catching
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. court — of law
  9. pit — a hole
  10. court — for sport
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. shower — to wash
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. fall — to drop
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. court — of a king
  17. shower — rain
  18. fall — the season
  19. row — to paddle
  20. rest — a break
  21. cell — in biology
  22. rest — what's left
  23. rest — what's left
  24. pit — in a race

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