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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 116 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: spring · fine · content · cold · board · wave · mine · pitcher

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. fine — all right
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. spring — the season
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. spring — a coil
  9. board — to get on
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. cold — an illness
  12. fine — high quality
  13. spring — of water
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. content — happy
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. cold — not warm
  24. content — the amount

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