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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 120 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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. season — of the year
  3. season — in sport
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. drill — a practice
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. present — the time now
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. present — there
  10. wind — moving air
  11. pit — a hole
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. wind — moving air
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. drill — the tool
  16. stand — to bear
  17. drill — army training
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. cold — an illness
  20. pit — in a race
  21. saw — the tool
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. present — a gift
  24. saw — the tool

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