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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.

Make a worksheet

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
468
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: file · cold · fan · wind · bear · hand · net · roll

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. file — a line of people
  4. wind — moving air
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. roll — a list
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bear — the animal
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. roll — a cake
  13. cold — not warm
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. net — for catching
  16. hand — in cards
  17. hand — help
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bear — the animal
  20. file — a document
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. file — a tool
  24. net — in sport

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