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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: wake · dip · coach · tube · cold · wound · plane · track

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. cold — not warm
  4. tube — the underground
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. tube — a container
  7. track — to keep track
  8. wound — an injury
  9. plane — a tool
  10. cold — an illness
  11. track — a path
  12. track — a song
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. dip — to sink
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. wake — a trail

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