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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: wake · mate · coach · hand · wind · ground · cold · tube

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. hand — help
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. ground — crushed
  7. mate — a partner
  8. ground — the earth
  9. hand — in cards
  10. tube — a container
  11. tube — the underground
  12. mate — a friend
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wind — moving air
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. cold — an illness
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. cold — not warm
  21. mate — to breed
  22. ground — a position
  23. wake — a trail
  24. coach — a trainer

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