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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: cold · object · file · march · bound · wound · spell · season

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. season — of the year
  3. spell — magic
  4. cold — an illness
  5. object — a thing
  6. file — a document
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. object — an aim
  9. march — the month
  10. wound — an injury
  11. march — the month
  12. bound — tied together
  13. season — in sport
  14. bound — certain
  15. bound — obliged
  16. file — a tool
  17. file — a line of people
  18. spell — a short time
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. march — music
  22. object — to protest
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. spell — letters

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