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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. club — for golf
  6. spring — the season
  7. season — in sport
  8. fine — high quality
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wound — an injury
  11. spring — of water
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. club — a group
  14. club — for dancing
  15. fine — all right
  16. spring — a coil
  17. season — of the year
  18. file — a tool
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. file — a document
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. wound — an injury
  23. file — a line of people
  24. wind — moving air

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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