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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: cold · press · wind · band · spell · craft

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. band — a ring
  3. press — a publisher
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wind — moving air
  6. craft — a skill
  7. craft — boats
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. press — to push
  10. cold — an illness
  11. press — newspapers
  12. spell — magic
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. spell — a short time
  15. band — a music group
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. spell — letters

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