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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: row · date · prune · bass · pop · cold · fork · bank

  1. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bass — the fish
  4. bass — low music
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pop — to visit
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. row — a line
  9. prune — to trim
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. pop — music
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. prune — to trim
  16. pop — soda
  17. row — to paddle
  18. bank — for money
  19. date — the fruit
  20. fork — in a road
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. cold — not warm
  24. bank — of a river

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