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

Word bank: cold · club · mine · bank · band · chip · wind · present

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. club — a group
  3. wind — moving air
  4. bank — of a river
  5. club — for golf
  6. band — a ring
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. bank — for money
  10. chip — for betting
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bank — for money
  14. present — a gift
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. present — there
  17. mine — for digging
  18. club — for dancing
  19. present — the time now
  20. wind — moving air
  21. cold — an illness
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. band — a music group

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