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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: cold · fall · chip · bowl · calf · tear

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. fall — the season
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. tear — from crying
  5. chip — for betting
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. fall — to drop
  8. cold — not warm
  9. fall — to drop
  10. tear — to rip
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. chip — to eat
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. calf — a young animal

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