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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 · row · date · bay · spell · wound · last · swing

  1. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. My mare is ________________ in color.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bay — a part of the sea
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. last — to go on
  9. cold — not warm
  10. wound — an injury
  11. spell — magic
  12. cold — an illness
  13. swing — music
  14. swing — to play on
  15. swing — in golf
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. row — a line
  18. bay — a horse colour
  19. last — finally
  20. spell — a short time
  21. spell — letters
  22. date — the fruit
  23. last — final
  24. row — to paddle

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