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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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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: wind · plane · branch · cold · lash · pound · season · field

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. plane — a tool
  9. pound — a weight
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. wind — moving air
  12. branch — a division
  13. cold — an illness
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — farmland
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. cold — not warm
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. season — in sport
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. season — of the year
  24. season — to add flavour

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