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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 · date · spring · track · cold · wind · last · tube

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. tube — a container
  3. bass — low music
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. spring — a coil
  6. tube — the underground
  7. last — finally
  8. spring — of water
  9. wind — moving air
  10. last — to go on
  11. wind — moving air
  12. last — final
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. track — a path
  15. track — to keep track
  16. spring — the season
  17. bass — the fish
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. date — the fruit
  24. track — a song

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