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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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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: kick · land · cold · wind · bat · wave

  1. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — of the sea
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. land — to come down
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. bat — the animal
  6. land — a country
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. cold — an illness
  9. kick — in football
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. land — ground
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. cold — not warm
  16. wind — moving air
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. wind — moving air

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