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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: season · fine · cold · stand · wind · wake · calf · trunk

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stand — to bear
  3. season — in sport
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. season — of the year
  6. fine — all right
  7. fine — high quality
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wake — a trail
  15. wind — moving air
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. cold — an illness
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. wind — moving air

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