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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: band · dip · date · chest · hand · spring · fall · wind

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. wind — moving air
  3. hand — in cards
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. chest — a box
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. spring — a coil
  8. band — a ring
  9. band — a music group
  10. chest — of your body
  11. fall — to drop
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. spring — the season
  14. chest — of your body
  15. wind — moving air
  16. fall — the season
  17. spring — of water
  18. fall — to drop
  19. date — the fruit
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. dip — to sink
  24. dip — a sauce

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