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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 116 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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. face — to point toward
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. cold — not warm
  6. spell — magic
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cell — in biology
  10. row — a line
  11. face — to confront
  12. row — to paddle
  13. face — part of the head
  14. spell — letters
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. spring — of water
  18. branch — a division
  19. cold — an illness
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. spring — a coil
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. spell — a short time

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