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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: fall · wind · present · tear · spring · bowl · ground · snap

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. wind — moving air
  3. present — there
  4. ground — the earth
  5. present — the time now
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. spring — a coil
  8. fall — the season
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. spring — the season
  11. ground — a position
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. tear — from crying
  14. spring — of water
  15. tear — from crying
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. snap — to click
  18. fall — to drop
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. fall — to drop
  21. ground — crushed
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. tear — to rip
  24. wind — moving air

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