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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: fall · cold · leaves · pop · safe · race · row · bass

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. fall — to drop
  3. cold — not warm
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. safe — out of danger
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. fall — to drop
  8. pop — music
  9. race — the arms race
  10. fall — the season
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. bass — the fish
  14. pop — soda
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. race — a contest
  17. race — humankind
  18. cold — an illness
  19. safe — a strongbox
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. bass — low music
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. row — to paddle
  24. row — a line

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