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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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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: cold · bore · net · safe · pitcher · fall · row · key

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. net — for catching
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. fall — the season
  6. safe — a strongbox
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. net — in sport
  10. key — the most important part
  11. bore — to drill
  12. key — for a lock
  13. fall — to drop
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. row — a line
  16. bore — to tire
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. key — in music
  19. row — to paddle
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. net — after costs
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. pitcher — a jug

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