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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. season — of the year
  3. wind — moving air
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. season — in sport
  8. face — to confront
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. saw — the tool
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. face — part of the head
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. cold — an illness
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. cold — not warm
  22. face — to point toward
  23. saw — the tool
  24. plane — a tool

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