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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 120 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: chair · deal · land · perch · wound · tube · lean · cold

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. land — ground
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. perch — the fish
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. lean — to bend
  10. land — a country
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. wound — an injury
  13. land — to come down
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. deal — to handle
  16. wound — an injury
  17. lean — thin
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. chair — a leader
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. tube — a container

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