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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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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 · stand · scale · wind · cold · mark · kid · cell

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. mark — a grade
  3. stand — on your feet
  4. land — ground
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. mark — a trace
  7. kid — to tease
  8. land — to come down
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. stand — to bear
  11. cold — an illness
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. wind — moving air
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. wind — moving air
  16. scale — in music
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. land — a country
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. kid — child
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cold — not warm
  23. scale — size or range
  24. cell — in biology

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