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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: tear · net · charge · scale · mine · leaves · pop · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The tickets are free of ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. charge — electricity
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pop — music
  6. net — after costs
  7. mine — for digging
  8. charge — in control
  9. tear — to rip
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. charge — a price
  12. net — in sport
  13. net — for catching
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. scale — size or range
  16. pop — soda
  17. pop — to visit
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. tear — from crying
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. scale — in music
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. tear — from crying

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