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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 120 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: shower · chip · kid · lie · perch · mine · cold · chair

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. perch — the fish
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mine — for digging
  5. lie — to recline
  6. shower — rain
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. shower — to wash
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. kid — child
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — an illness
  19. chip — for betting
  20. chip — to eat
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. chair — a leader
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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