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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: mine · chair · root · tear · season · wind · cold · cap

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. cap — a lid
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. cap — of ice
  7. root — of a plant
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. root — of a word
  11. cold — not warm
  12. season — in sport
  13. mine — for digging
  14. tear — to rip
  15. wind — moving air
  16. tear — from crying
  17. chair — a leader
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cap — a hat
  20. root — the cause
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. season — of the year
  23. tear — from crying
  24. wind — moving air

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