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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: date · cold · band · leaves · game · bass · net · roll

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. roll — a cake
  3. band — a ring
  4. cold — not warm
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. bass — low music
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. bass — the fish
  10. roll — a list
  11. band — a music group
  12. game — wild animals
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. net — after costs
  19. net — for catching
  20. cold — an illness
  21. game — a match
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. date — the fruit

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