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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: stock · chair · wound · lie · fall · prune · perch · cold

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. cold — an illness
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. stock — goods
  6. wound — an injury
  7. perch — the fish
  8. fall — to drop
  9. stock — shares
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. prune — to trim
  12. prune — to trim
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. wound — an injury
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. lie — to recline
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. chair — a leader
  21. fall — the season
  22. fall — to drop
  23. cold — not warm
  24. perch — for a bird

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