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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: mate · band · last · march · cold · object · trunk · wake

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. mate — to breed
  4. object — to protest
  5. band — a music group
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. march — the month
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. march — music
  10. band — a ring
  11. wake — a trail
  12. object — an aim
  13. march — the month
  14. mate — a friend
  15. last — finally
  16. object — a thing
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. last — final
  19. mate — a partner
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. last — to go on
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  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