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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: tear · firm · land · nail · ball · season · cold · file

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. land — ground
  3. season — of the year
  4. tear — from crying
  5. land — a country
  6. ball — a dance
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. land — to come down
  10. cold — not warm
  11. tear — to rip
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. tear — from crying
  14. firm — steady
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. season — in sport
  17. file — a tool
  18. ball — a great time
  19. file — a document
  20. firm — decided
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. firm — a company
  24. file — a line of people

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