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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 120 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: chair · band · cold · wind · spring · plane · season · kick

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. cold — an illness
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. band — a music group
  5. plane — a tool
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. spring — the season
  9. season — of the year
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. cold — not warm
  15. chair — a leader
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. wind — moving air
  18. spring — a coil
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. spring — of water
  21. band — a ring
  22. wind — moving air
  23. season — in sport
  24. season — to add flavour

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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