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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 · spring · date · net · band · suit · degree · club

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  21. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  22. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. When will it ________________ you to start?

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. cold — an illness
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. spring — a coil
  5. date — the fruit
  6. net — in sport
  7. net — after costs
  8. degree — an amount
  9. club — for golf
  10. band — a music group
  11. band — a ring
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. spring — the season
  14. degree — from a university
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. degree — temperature
  17. club — a group
  18. cold — not warm
  19. spring — of water
  20. club — for dancing
  21. suit — clothes
  22. suit — in cards
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. suit — to fit

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