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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: hand · toast · mark · bowl · cold · wake · date · racket

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. hand — in cards
  9. hand — help
  10. toast — the most admired
  11. mark — a grade
  12. date — the fruit
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. cold — not warm
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. cold — an illness
  17. toast — bread
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. mark — a trace
  20. wake — a trail
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. toast — a drink to someone
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. racket — for tennis

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