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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: kid · track · bass · chip · wake · wound · cold · band

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. chip — to eat
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. chip — for betting
  7. bass — the fish
  8. kid — to tease
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. wake — a trail
  11. band — a music group
  12. track — to keep track
  13. bass — low music
  14. band — a ring
  15. track — a song
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. cold — not warm
  19. kid — child
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. wound — an injury
  22. track — a path
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. wound — an injury

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