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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: mine · scale · fall · wake · dip · cold · perch · chip

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. chip — for betting
  4. fall — to drop
  5. cold — an illness
  6. chip — to eat
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. scale — size or range
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. dip — to sink
  11. mine — for digging
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. scale — in music
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. perch — the fish
  20. wake — a trail
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. cold — not warm
  24. fall — the season

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