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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. board — to get on
  6. band — a ring
  7. cold — an illness
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. game — a match
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. content — happy
  12. band — a music group
  13. cold — not warm
  14. content — the amount
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. game — wild animals
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. wake — a trail
  20. board — a committee
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. stem — to come from
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. wind — moving air

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