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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. cold — an illness
  3. sharp — clever
  4. club — for dancing
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. fall — to drop
  8. club — for golf
  9. can — to be able to
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. can — a tin
  13. root — of a word
  14. fall — to drop
  15. mine — for digging
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. root — of a plant
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. root — the cause
  21. fall — the season
  22. club — a group
  23. wind — moving air
  24. can — a tin

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