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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. wind — moving air
  3. board — a committee
  4. cold — an illness
  5. spring — of water
  6. root — of a plant
  7. kick — in football
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. squash — to crush
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. saw — the tool
  12. root — the cause
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. wind — moving air
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. board — to get on
  18. saw — the tool
  19. spring — the season
  20. squash — the sport
  21. root — of a word
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — not warm

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