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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: land · spell · cold · rest · fan · fine · wind · band

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. band — a ring
  5. band — a music group
  6. cold — not warm
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. rest — what's left
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. rest — a break
  11. spell — a short time
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. fine — all right
  14. land — ground
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. land — a country
  17. spell — letters
  18. land — to come down
  19. wind — moving air
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cold — an illness
  23. fine — high quality
  24. rest — what's left

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