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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: mark · wind · tube · trunk · date · content · band · cold

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — not warm
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. mark — a trace
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. content — happy
  15. tube — a container
  16. wind — moving air
  17. band — a music group
  18. date — the fruit
  19. mark — to pay attention
  20. tube — the underground
  21. band — a ring
  22. mark — a grade
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. wind — moving air

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