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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: swing · mate · band · rush · wake · cold · wind · saw

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. wake — a trail
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. swing — to play on
  9. saw — the tool
  10. wind — moving air
  11. mate — a partner
  12. swing — music
  13. saw — the tool
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. swing — in golf
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. band — a ring
  19. wind — moving air
  20. band — a music group
  21. cold — not warm
  22. mate — to breed
  23. mate — a friend
  24. wake — before a funeral

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