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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: stand · mark · land · cold · wind · perch · leaves · kid

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. land — to come down
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. wind — moving air
  8. mark — a trace
  9. land — a country
  10. land — ground
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. kid — to tease
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. kid — child
  19. stand — to bear
  20. mark — a grade
  21. cold — an illness
  22. perch — the fish
  23. stand — on your feet
  24. cold — not warm

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