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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: bank · mark · rush · cold · last · net · firm · clip

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. net — after costs
  3. bank — for money
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bank — of a river
  6. firm — decided
  7. cold — not warm
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — for paper
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. net — in sport
  12. last — to go on
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. last — final
  16. bank — for money
  17. clip — to cut
  18. firm — steady
  19. rush — hurry
  20. mark — a grade
  21. last — finally
  22. mark — a trace
  23. net — for catching
  24. firm — a company

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