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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: pitcher · chair · vault · land · perch · key · cold · wake

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. land — a country
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wake — a trail
  8. land — to come down
  9. cold — an illness
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. perch — the fish
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. key — the most important part
  17. vault — a safe
  18. vault — an arched ceiling
  19. land — ground
  20. key — for a lock
  21. key — in music
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. chair — a leader

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