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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: game · cold · plane · kid · root · pound · fan · leaves

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. plane — a tool
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. pound — a weight
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. cold — an illness
  7. game — wild animals
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. root — of a plant
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. game — a match
  15. kid — to tease
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. root — the cause
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. kid — child
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. cold — not warm
  24. root — of a word

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