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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: racket · wound · date · bass · spring · clip · cold · bank

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. bank — for money
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bass — low music
  8. spring — the season
  9. spring — a coil
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. clip — for paper
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. bank — for money
  14. bank — of a river
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. date — the fruit
  17. wound — an injury
  18. spring — of water
  19. bass — the fish
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. wound — an injury
  22. cold — an illness
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — to cut

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