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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: hand · fan · cold · pop · plane · last · wound · object

  1. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. plane — in geometry
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. last — final
  5. pop — soda
  6. wound — an injury
  7. hand — help
  8. pop — music
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. object — an aim
  11. object — to protest
  12. pop — to visit
  13. last — to go on
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. wound — an injury
  16. hand — in cards
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. plane — a tool
  19. cold — not warm
  20. last — finally
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. fan — a supporter

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