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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. spell — letters
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. root — the cause
  5. last — finally
  6. kid — child
  7. dip — to sink
  8. last — to go on
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. root — of a plant
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. wind — moving air
  13. last — final
  14. spell — a short time
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. cold — an illness
  17. kid — to tease
  18. wind — moving air
  19. root — of a word
  20. lean — thin
  21. lean — to bend
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. dip — a sauce

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