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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: cold · fan · branch · fine · land · file · object · wake

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. land — to come down
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. object — to protest
  6. file — a document
  7. branch — a division
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. object — a thing
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. file — a line of people
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. fine — high quality
  16. fine — all right
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. land — a country
  21. file — a tool
  22. wake — a trail
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. object — an aim

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