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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: shower · land · branch · spring · chip · wake · chair · fall

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. land — a country
  3. spring — of water
  4. fall — the season
  5. chip — to eat
  6. shower — rain
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. fall — to drop
  10. land — to come down
  11. chip — for betting
  12. shower — to wash
  13. wake — a trail
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. spring — a coil
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. fall — to drop
  19. branch — a division
  20. chair — a leader
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. land — ground
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. spring — the season

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