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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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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: stick · cap · fan · wind · row · root · cold · mine

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — moving air
  4. row — a line
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cap — a lid
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. mine — for digging
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cap — of ice
  17. root — the cause
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. row — to paddle
  20. root — of a plant
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. cap — a hat
  23. root — of a word
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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