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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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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: key · wind · stand · cold · bowl · season · straw · bat

  1. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — on your feet
  2. cold — not warm
  3. season — in sport
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. stand — to bear
  7. wind — moving air
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. key — in music
  10. bat — the animal
  11. cold — an illness
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. key — the most important part
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. key — for a lock
  21. wind — moving air
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. season — of the year
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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