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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: saw · mate · season · fork · coach · lie · wind · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. mate — a partner
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. mate — to breed
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. cold — an illness
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. saw — the tool
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. wind — moving air
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. season — in sport
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. lie — to recline
  19. wind — moving air
  20. season — of the year
  21. saw — the tool
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. mate — a friend
  24. fork — in a road

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