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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 120 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: club · season · tube · spring · mate · wound · net · rush

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. spring — of water
  3. club — for dancing
  4. net — after costs
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. net — for catching
  7. season — of the year
  8. wound — an injury
  9. club — for golf
  10. tube — the underground
  11. mate — a partner
  12. spring — a coil
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. club — a group
  16. spring — the season
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. mate — a friend
  19. mate — to breed
  20. tube — a container
  21. wound — an injury
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. season — in sport
  24. net — in sport

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