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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wind · leaves · mate · land · cold · file

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. file — a line of people
  3. mate — a friend
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. wind — moving air
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. mate — to breed
  9. cold — an illness
  10. file — a tool
  11. file — a document
  12. land — to come down
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. land — a country
  16. land — ground
  17. mate — a partner
  18. leaves — to go away

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