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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: cold · wake · pitch · nail · rush · spring · net · date

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. rush — hurry
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. net — after costs
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. cold — not warm
  7. spring — of water
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. pitch — completely
  12. spring — a coil
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. spring — the season
  15. net — for catching
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. net — in sport
  19. wake — a trail
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. cold — an illness
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. date — the fruit

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