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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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Word bank
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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: pound · cold · chip · scale · shower · chest · pitcher · net

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. shower — rain
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. scale — size or range
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pound — a weight
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. chest — a box
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. scale — in music
  17. net — in sport
  18. net — for catching
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chip — to eat
  22. net — after costs
  23. chip — for betting
  24. shower — to wash

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