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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 116 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: cold · vault · fall · content · land · net · row · pop

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. land — to come down
  3. fall — to drop
  4. content — the amount
  5. row — to paddle
  6. pop — music
  7. vault — a safe
  8. fall — to drop
  9. content — happy
  10. fall — the season
  11. cold — an illness
  12. net — for catching
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. row — a line
  15. pop — soda
  16. cold — not warm
  17. land — ground
  18. land — a country
  19. net — in sport
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. pop — to visit
  23. net — after costs
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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