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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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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: game · fall · wake · wind · spell · trunk · cell · object

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. wind — moving air
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. wind — moving air
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. cell — a phone
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. object — an aim
  10. fall — to drop
  11. object — a thing
  12. object — to protest
  13. wake — a trail
  14. cell — in biology
  15. spell — magic
  16. game — a match
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. fall — the season
  21. spell — a short time
  22. spell — letters
  23. game — wild animals
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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