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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: pit · fall · band · tube · wind · row · tear · cue

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I'll take my ________________ from you.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. tear — from crying
  3. cue — a signal
  4. band — a ring
  5. wind — moving air
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. pit — a hole
  8. cue — for pool
  9. row — to paddle
  10. band — a music group
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. wind — moving air
  13. tube — the underground
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. fall — the season
  16. tube — a container
  17. pit — in a race
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. fall — to drop
  21. tear — from crying
  22. row — a line
  23. tear — to rip
  24. cue — a hint

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