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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: scale · wind · roll · mate · dip · leaves · cold · lie

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. mate — a friend
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. roll — a list
  5. roll — a cake
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. mate — to breed
  13. mate — a partner
  14. scale — size or range
  15. cold — not warm
  16. dip — to sink
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. scale — in music
  20. wind — moving air
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. lie — to recline
  23. cold — an illness
  24. wind — to turn a key

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