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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: squash · spring · cell · scale · hand · mine · season · wind

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. cell — in biology
  4. wind — moving air
  5. hand — in cards
  6. season — in sport
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. squash — the sport
  10. squash — to crush
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. cell — a phone
  13. season — of the year
  14. scale — in music
  15. spring — of water
  16. wind — moving air
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. mine — for digging
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — a coil
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. scale — size or range

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