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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: bass · bay · hand · cold · pound · land · mate · date

  1. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. mate — a friend
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. land — to come down
  7. hand — in cards
  8. bass — low music
  9. bay — a part of the sea
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. pound — a weight
  14. date — the fruit
  15. mate — a partner
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. hand — help
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. land — ground
  21. land — a country
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. cold — an illness
  24. mate — to breed

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