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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.

Make a worksheet

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
468
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: season · wind · date · cold · face · spell · bass · hide

  1. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. season — of the year
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. date — the fruit
  5. season — in sport
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. face — to confront
  9. cold — not warm
  10. face — to point toward
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. face — part of the head
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. spell — letters
  17. spell — magic
  18. bass — low music
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bass — the fish
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. spell — a short time
  23. date — on the calendar
  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