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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: wind · mine · fall · swing · pitcher · scale · spring · rush

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  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. mine — an explosive
  2. swing — music
  3. fall — the season
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. spring — the season
  6. spring — of water
  7. fall — to drop
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. fall — to drop
  10. wind — moving air
  11. mine — for digging
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. scale — in music
  14. swing — to play on
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. rush — hurry
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. spring — a coil
  20. swing — in golf
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. wind — moving air
  23. mine — belonging to me
  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