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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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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: fork · bulb · wind · cold · fan · pass · spring · branch

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. spring — the season
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. branch — a division
  11. fork — in a road
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. pass — a permit
  14. bulb — for light
  15. cold — an illness
  16. spring — a coil
  17. cold — not warm
  18. pass — to succeed
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. bulb — for light
  21. spring — of water
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. wind — moving air
  24. fork — to eat with

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