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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. date — the fruit
  4. current — happening now
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. cold — not warm
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. land — ground
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. land — to come down
  12. spring — of water
  13. current — of water
  14. bank — of a river
  15. spring — the season
  16. row — a line
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. current — electric
  20. row — to paddle
  21. land — a country
  22. spring — a coil
  23. bank — for money
  24. leaves — to go away

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