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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: arm · cell · fan · cold · rash · spring · land · current

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. cell — a phone
  3. spring — of water
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. cell — in biology
  8. spring — the season
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. land — ground
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. rash — hasty
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. cold — an illness
  17. land — a country
  18. current — of water
  19. land — to come down
  20. current — happening now
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. current — electric
  23. rash — a series
  24. cold — not warm

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