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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. land — a country
  6. bank — for money
  7. land — ground
  8. bank — of a river
  9. bank — for money
  10. fine — high quality
  11. fine — all right
  12. bound — tied together
  13. court — of a king
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. court — of law
  16. cold — an illness
  17. court — for sport
  18. file — a document
  19. bound — obliged
  20. bound — certain
  21. file — a tool
  22. wind — moving air
  23. land — to come down
  24. file — a line of people

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