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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: wound · cold · hide · bass · firm · nail · spell · court

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wound — an injury
  4. cold — an illness
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. bass — the fish
  9. spell — magic
  10. court — for sport
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. spell — a short time
  13. court — of a king
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. firm — steady
  16. firm — a company
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bass — low music
  19. court — of law
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. firm — decided
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. wound — an injury

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