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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: season · mark · degree · bank · spell · row · cold · wind

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. spell — letters
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mark — a trace
  6. spell — magic
  7. bank — for money
  8. degree — an amount
  9. bank — for money
  10. row — to paddle
  11. bank — of a river
  12. wind — moving air
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. mark — a grade
  16. cold — not warm
  17. degree — from a university
  18. degree — temperature
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. spell — a short time
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. season — of the year
  23. season — in sport
  24. row — a line

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