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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 120 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: temple · cold · wind · game · wake · swing · saw · rock

  1. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wake — a trail
  6. rock — a stone
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. cold — not warm
  10. rock — music
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. swing — to play on
  13. game — a match
  14. game — wild animals
  15. swing — music
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. saw — the tool
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. saw — the tool
  21. swing — in golf
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wake — before a funeral

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