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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. I assure you, everything's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. rock — music
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. cold — an illness
  8. spring — a coil
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. roll — a list
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. rock — a stone
  14. spring — of water
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. roll — a cake
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. spring — the season
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. fine — high quality
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. fine — all right

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