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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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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 · racket · date · shower · wake · mark · mate · cold

  1. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. cold — an illness
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. mate — a friend
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. wind — moving air
  11. date — the fruit
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. wake — a trail
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. mark — a trace
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. mate — to breed
  18. wind — moving air
  19. mark — a grade
  20. mate — a partner
  21. shower — to wash
  22. shower — rain
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. cold — not warm

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