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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: wind · spell · root · bat · bowl · pound · cold · coach

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. root — of a word
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. spell — magic
  5. cold — not warm
  6. spell — letters
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. cold — an illness
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. root — the cause
  12. bat — the animal
  13. wind — moving air
  14. spell — a short time
  15. root — of a plant
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. pound — a weight
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bowl — to roll

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