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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 120 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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. season — of the year
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wind — moving air
  5. club — a group
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. club — for dancing
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. season — in sport
  10. root — the cause
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. lean — to bend
  14. club — for golf
  15. root — of a word
  16. bat — the animal
  17. lean — thin
  18. root — of a plant
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. branch — a division
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. lean — to rest against

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