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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: fan · wound · degree · staff · spring · current · wind · face

  1. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. wind — moving air
  3. degree — from a university
  4. current — happening now
  5. face — to point toward
  6. spring — the season
  7. degree — an amount
  8. wind — moving air
  9. staff — employees
  10. staff — employees
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. face — to confront
  13. current — electric
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. current — of water
  18. degree — temperature
  19. spring — of water
  20. face — part of the head
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. staff — a stick
  23. wound — an injury
  24. spring — a coil

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