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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: game · club · date · tear · pit · last · bank · cold

  1. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. bank — for money
  3. date — the fruit
  4. tear — from crying
  5. bank — for money
  6. last — to go on
  7. cold — an illness
  8. club — a group
  9. game — wild animals
  10. cold — not warm
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. last — finally
  15. club — for dancing
  16. bank — of a river
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. tear — to rip
  19. tear — from crying
  20. club — for golf
  21. game — a match
  22. last — final
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. pit — in a race

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