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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. drill — a practice
  4. drill — the tool
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. field — a subject
  7. kick — in football
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. cold — not warm
  10. drill — army training
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wind — moving air
  13. season — in sport
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. cold — an illness
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. field — for sport
  18. wind — moving air
  19. branch — a division
  20. season — of the year
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. field — farmland
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. kick — with a leg

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