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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.

Make a worksheet

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
468
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: content · land · drill · rash · spring · swing · wind · fine

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. land — a country
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. wind — moving air
  5. rash — a series
  6. fine — high quality
  7. drill — the tool
  8. land — ground
  9. spring — of water
  10. rash — hasty
  11. fine — all right
  12. drill — a practice
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. spring — a coil
  15. content — the amount
  16. swing — music
  17. land — to come down
  18. drill — army training
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. swing — in golf
  21. content — happy
  22. swing — to play on
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. wind — moving air

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