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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: spell · wound · cold · straw · fine · tear · lean · key

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. spell — letters
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. key — for a lock
  5. fine — all right
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. tear — from crying
  9. lean — thin
  10. lean — to bend
  11. tear — from crying
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. key — the most important part
  14. fine — high quality
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. wound — an injury
  20. spell — a short time
  21. wound — an injury
  22. key — in music
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. tear — to rip

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