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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. cold — not warm
  3. spell — magic
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. net — in sport
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. spell — a short time
  10. land — ground
  11. spell — letters
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. land — to come down
  15. land — a country
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. net — for catching
  18. wind — moving air
  19. net — after costs
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. cold — an illness
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wake — a trail

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