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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. spring — of water
  3. spring — a coil
  4. row — a line
  5. present — the time now
  6. present — there
  7. row — to paddle
  8. cold — an illness
  9. spring — the season
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. degree — temperature
  13. wind — moving air
  14. degree — from a university
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. cold — not warm
  18. roll — a list
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. wind — moving air
  21. degree — an amount
  22. present — a gift
  23. roll — a cake
  24. row — a quarrel

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