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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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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: row · kid · land · chip · vault · dip · bat · fall

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. bat — the animal
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. land — ground
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. dip — to sink
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. kid — to tease
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. fall — the season
  13. fall — to drop
  14. kid — child
  15. land — to come down
  16. row — to paddle
  17. chip — to eat
  18. chip — for betting
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. row — a line
  22. vault — a safe
  23. vault — an arched ceiling
  24. land — a country

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