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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. toast — the most admired
  6. bound — obliged
  7. cold — not warm
  8. bound — certain
  9. kid — to tease
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. land — a country
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. wake — a trail
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. land — ground
  16. toast — a drink to someone
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. kid — child
  20. toast — bread
  21. wind — moving air
  22. bound — tied together
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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