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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: squash · land · cold · pop · bear · hand · cell · fall

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. fall — to drop
  5. fall — the season
  6. hand — help
  7. squash — to crush
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. cold — not warm
  10. fall — to drop
  11. pop — soda
  12. bear — the animal
  13. bear — the animal
  14. pop — music
  15. cell — a phone
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. land — to come down
  18. land — ground
  19. cell — in biology
  20. pop — to visit
  21. squash — the sport
  22. hand — in cards
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. hand — part of the body

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