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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: wind · roll · club · rest · spell · tear · degree · lie

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. spell — magic
  3. roll — a cake
  4. club — a group
  5. rest — what's left
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. club — for dancing
  8. lie — to recline
  9. degree — from a university
  10. spell — letters
  11. degree — temperature
  12. degree — an amount
  13. tear — to rip
  14. club — for golf
  15. rest — what's left
  16. wind — moving air
  17. roll — a list
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — from crying
  20. rest — a break
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. spell — a short time
  24. wind — moving air

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