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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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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: ground · wind · fall · degree · charge · bank · spring · cold

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. bank — for money
  3. charge — a price
  4. ground — the earth
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — temperature
  7. charge — electricity
  8. spring — a coil
  9. fall — the season
  10. wind — moving air
  11. ground — a position
  12. bank — for money
  13. bank — of a river
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. fall — to drop
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. degree — an amount
  20. fall — to drop
  21. charge — in control
  22. spring — the season
  23. ground — crushed
  24. cold — an illness

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