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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: mine · date · spring · coach · bear · shower · kid · chip

  1. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. kid — child
  4. date — the fruit
  5. spring — the season
  6. bear — the animal
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. chip — to eat
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. spring — of water
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. kid — to tease
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. spring — a coil
  18. bear — the animal
  19. chip — for betting
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. mine — for digging
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — to wash
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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