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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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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: cold · court · plane · fall · bank · saw · wind · date

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. court — of a king
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. wind — moving air
  5. bank — for money
  6. saw — the tool
  7. saw — the tool
  8. bank — for money
  9. fall — to drop
  10. date — the fruit
  11. bank — of a river
  12. cold — not warm
  13. plane — a tool
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. cold — an illness
  16. fall — the season
  17. fall — to drop
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. court — of law
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. wind — moving air
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. court — for 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