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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: land · fall · lean · stock · shower · hide · clip · chip

  1. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. lean — to bend
  3. clip — to cut
  4. land — to come down
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. fall — to drop
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. chip — to eat
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. fall — to drop
  13. stock — shares
  14. lean — thin
  15. shower — rain
  16. land — a country
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. chip — for betting
  19. land — ground
  20. clip — a video
  21. shower — to wash
  22. fall — the season
  23. stock — goods
  24. clip — for paper

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