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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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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: wind · snap · leaves · squash · cold · lash · stand · spring

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. squash — the sport
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. cold — an illness
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. wind — moving air
  10. spring — a coil
  11. stand — to bear
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. cold — not warm
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. squash — to crush
  18. spring — the season
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. snap — to click
  23. stand — on your feet
  24. spring — of water

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