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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 120 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 · field · fall · branch · cold · temple · tear · fine

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. fall — to drop
  4. fall — the season
  5. branch — a division
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wind — moving air
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. cold — not warm
  10. fine — high quality
  11. tear — from crying
  12. field — farmland
  13. fall — to drop
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. tear — from crying
  16. fine — all right
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. field — for sport
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. tear — to rip
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. field — a subject

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