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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 120 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: key · can · cold · wind · spring · last · court · fan

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. cold — not warm
  3. last — final
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — a coil
  6. last — to go on
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. court — for sport
  9. court — of law
  10. key — for a lock
  11. can — a tin
  12. last — finally
  13. key — in music
  14. spring — of water
  15. key — the most important part
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. court — of a king
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cold — an illness
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. can — to be able to
  22. wind — moving air
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. can — a tin

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