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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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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. cold — not warm
  3. root — of a word
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. club — for golf
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. club — for dancing
  9. root — the cause
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. spell — magic
  12. club — a group
  13. spell — letters
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. pass — a permit
  16. degree — temperature
  17. spell — a short time
  18. wind — moving air
  19. degree — an amount
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. root — of a plant
  22. cold — an illness
  23. degree — from a university
  24. perch — the fish

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