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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: land · fall · scale · kick · wind · spring · fork · pitch

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. land — a country
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. fall — to drop
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. pitch — completely
  8. land — to come down
  9. spring — of water
  10. wind — moving air
  11. spring — the season
  12. kick — in football
  13. fall — the season
  14. land — ground
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. fork — in a road
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. wind — moving air
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. scale — size or range
  22. scale — in music
  23. spring — a coil
  24. fork — a garden tool

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