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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: net · spring · bank · squash · bass · field · trunk · cold

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. field — for sport
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. field — a subject
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. net — for catching
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. squash — to crush
  9. squash — the sport
  10. field — farmland
  11. spring — the season
  12. net — after costs
  13. net — in sport
  14. bank — for money
  15. bank — of a river
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bass — low music
  18. bank — for money
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bass — the fish
  24. spring — of water

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