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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: wind · last · chest · pop · pitcher · fan · mate · date

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. wind — moving air
  3. pop — to visit
  4. chest — a box
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. wind — moving air
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. pop — music
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. mate — a partner
  11. chest — of your body
  12. last — finally
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. pop — soda
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. date — the fruit
  18. mate — a friend
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. last — to go on
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. mate — to breed
  23. chest — of your body
  24. pitcher — a jug

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