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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. fall — the season
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. land — a country
  6. drill — a practice
  7. cold — not warm
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. land — ground
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. drill — the tool
  14. wind — moving air
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fall — to drop
  17. pop — soda
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. pop — to visit
  20. cold — an illness
  21. wind — moving air
  22. drill — army training
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. land — to come down

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