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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: temple · rush · spell · season · wind · clip · branch · cold

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. clip — for paper
  6. rush — hurry
  7. spell — letters
  8. season — of the year
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. clip — to cut
  13. wind — moving air
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. spell — a short time
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — an illness
  19. season — in sport
  20. spell — magic
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. branch — a division
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. clip — a video

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