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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. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. mine — for digging
  3. fall — the season
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. last — final
  6. last — to go on
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. scale — in music
  9. fall — to drop
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. prune — to trim
  13. last — finally
  14. scale — size or range
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. fall — to drop
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. shower — to wash
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. prune — to trim
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. scale — for weighing

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