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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: wind · date · fork · mate · bass · shower · sharp · tear

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bass — low music
  4. bass — the fish
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. wind — moving air
  7. fork — in a road
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. mate — a friend
  13. wind — moving air
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. shower — rain
  16. mate — to breed
  17. tear — from crying
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. shower — to wash
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. tear — to rip
  23. date — the fruit
  24. sharp — clever

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