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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: spring · cold · wind · saw · sharp · scale · fine · ball

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. ball — a dance
  4. spring — the season
  5. fine — all right
  6. cold — not warm
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. cold — an illness
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. wind — moving air
  13. saw — the tool
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. spring — of water
  16. saw — the tool
  17. fine — high quality
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. scale — size or range
  21. ball — a great time
  22. spring — a coil
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. scale — in music

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