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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 keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. track — a song
  5. wind — moving air
  6. file — a line of people
  7. spring — the season
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. file — a tool
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. track — a path
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. wake — a trail
  16. spring — of water
  17. wind — moving air
  18. file — a document
  19. spring — a coil
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. branch — a division
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. cold — the Cold War

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