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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: hide · wake · cold · capital · perch · trunk · fall · spell

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  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. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. capital — money
  4. fall — to drop
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. fall — to drop
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. spell — magic
  11. perch — the fish
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. spell — a short time
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. fall — the season
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. capital — a city
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. spell — letters
  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