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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. cold — an illness
  3. spring — a coil
  4. row — to paddle
  5. branch — a division
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. row — a line
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. spell — letters
  11. ground — the earth
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. lean — thin
  14. lean — to bend
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. spring — the season
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. cold — not warm
  20. spring — of water
  21. spell — a short time
  22. ground — a position
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. ground — crushed

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