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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: rash · fan · track · fall · cold · drill · season · straw

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. track — a path
  3. fall — the season
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. fall — to drop
  7. drill — a practice
  8. track — to keep track
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. season — in sport
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. fall — to drop
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. drill — the tool
  17. cold — an illness
  18. season — of the year
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. track — a song
  21. drill — army training
  22. rash — a series
  23. rash — hasty
  24. rash — on the skin

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