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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: spring · leaves · pitch · band · rush · wound · cold · date

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. spring — of water
  3. band — a ring
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rush — hurry
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. date — the fruit
  9. wound — an injury
  10. spring — a coil
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. pitch — completely
  13. band — a music group
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. wound — an injury
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. cold — not warm
  24. spring — the season

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