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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 116 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: kick · tube · season · branch · face · pound · wind · cold

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. season — in sport
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. face — to point toward
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. wind — moving air
  12. pound — a weight
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. tube — the underground
  15. season — of the year
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. face — part of the head
  18. face — to confront
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. wind — moving air
  22. branch — a division
  23. cold — not warm
  24. tube — a container

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