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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 ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. rash — hasty
  3. wound — an injury
  4. spring — of water
  5. row — a line
  6. root — of a plant
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. spring — the season
  9. rash — a series
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. row — to paddle
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cold — not warm
  16. spring — a coil
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. wound — an injury
  19. fine — all right
  20. root — the cause
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. fine — high quality
  24. cold — an illness

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