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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: staff · spring · season · bound · hand · wave · roll · cold

  1. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — a sudden rise
  2. staff — employees
  3. season — in sport
  4. roll — a cake
  5. staff — a stick
  6. bound — tied together
  7. roll — a list
  8. spring — a coil
  9. hand — in cards
  10. staff — employees
  11. cold — not warm
  12. hand — help
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. cold — an illness
  16. spring — of water
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. bound — certain
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. spring — the season
  22. bound — obliged
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. season — of the year

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