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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: bowl · bass · bank · wave · hand · cold · straw · trunk

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. bass — low music
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. bass — the fish
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. hand — help
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. bank — of a river
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. bank — for money
  20. cold — not warm
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. hand — in cards
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. bank — for money

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