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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. hand — help
  5. wind — moving air
  6. cold — an illness
  7. land — to come down
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. season — of the year
  10. hand — in cards
  11. bulb — for light
  12. rest — what's left
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. bulb — for light
  15. rest — what's left
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wind — moving air
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. land — a country
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. land — ground
  23. rest — a break
  24. season — in sport

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