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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: tube · cold · fall · tear · content · row · roll · suit

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. When will it ________________ you to start?
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. roll — a list
  4. tube — the underground
  5. tube — a container
  6. cold — an illness
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. tear — to rip
  9. suit — to fit
  10. content — happy
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. roll — a cake
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. tear — from crying
  17. fall — the season
  18. suit — in cards
  19. cold — not warm
  20. fall — to drop
  21. suit — clothes
  22. row — a line
  23. row — to paddle
  24. content — the amount

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