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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: row · fall · tear · tube · cell · cabinet · land · snap

  1. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. row — to paddle
  4. cell — in biology
  5. land — to come down
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cell — a phone
  8. land — ground
  9. fall — the season
  10. tear — from crying
  11. land — a country
  12. fall — to drop
  13. fall — to drop
  14. snap — to click
  15. tube — the underground
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. tube — a container
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. row — a line
  24. tear — to rip

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