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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: bound · date · swing · spring · face · trunk · wind · cold

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. bound — obliged
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. wind — moving air
  7. spring — the season
  8. face — part of the head
  9. cold — an illness
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. swing — in golf
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. spring — of water
  14. face — to point toward
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. spring — a coil
  17. swing — to play on
  18. date — the fruit
  19. cold — not warm
  20. swing — music
  21. bound — certain
  22. bound — tied together
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. face — to confront

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