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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  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. fall — to drop
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. game — a match
  8. swing — to play on
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. game — wild animals
  11. land — a country
  12. fall — the season
  13. wind — moving air
  14. ground — a position
  15. land — ground
  16. ground — crushed
  17. wind — moving air
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. ground — the earth
  20. land — to come down
  21. dip — to sink
  22. swing — in golf
  23. swing — music
  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