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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: ball · last · lean · pitcher · deal · clip · spring · fall

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. fall — to drop
  3. deal — to handle
  4. spring — of water
  5. last — to go on
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. last — finally
  8. ball — a great time
  9. lean — thin
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. clip — a video
  12. clip — for paper
  13. spring — a coil
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. spring — the season
  16. fall — the season
  17. lean — to bend
  18. deal — an agreement
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. fall — to drop
  22. ball — a dance
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. clip — to cut

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