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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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468
Word bank
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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 train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. cold — an illness
  3. spring — of water
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. tube — a container
  6. wound — an injury
  7. fine — all right
  8. fine — high quality
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. spring — a coil
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wound — an injury
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. spring — the season
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. wind — moving air
  22. tube — the underground
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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