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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. rest — what's left
  3. court — for sport
  4. court — of law
  5. chest — a box
  6. court — of a king
  7. fall — the season
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. tear — to rip
  10. wind — moving air
  11. tear — from crying
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wind — moving air
  14. fall — to drop
  15. rest — what's left
  16. fall — to drop
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. cold — an illness
  19. chest — of your body
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. snap — to click
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cold — not warm
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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