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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: cold · chair · bank · nail · hand · wake · row · fall

  1. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — of a river
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. fall — to drop
  4. hand — help
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. row — to paddle
  8. chair — a leader
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. fall — to drop
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bank — for money
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. bank — for money
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. hand — in cards
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. row — a line
  23. fall — the season
  24. wake — a trail

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