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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 116 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: spring · wind · fork · mouse · bat · bank · drill · last

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  5. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. last — final
  4. bank — for money
  5. bank — for money
  6. last — finally
  7. wind — moving air
  8. spring — of water
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. fork — in a road
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. bank — of a river
  14. drill — army training
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. drill — the tool
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. drill — a practice
  19. spring — the season
  20. wind — moving air
  21. bat — the animal
  22. spring — a coil
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. bat — in an idiom

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