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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
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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: fork · cold · spring · mine · spell · leaves · field · wind

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. cold — an illness
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. mine — for digging
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. field — for sport
  7. wind — moving air
  8. spring — of water
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. field — a subject
  12. spring — the season
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. wind — moving air
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. fork — in a road
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. spell — magic
  22. field — farmland
  23. spell — a short time
  24. spell — letters

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