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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: wake · swing · bass · squash · cold · kid · date · branch

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bass — the fish
  9. branch — a division
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. swing — in golf
  12. kid — child
  13. wake — a trail
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. date — the fruit
  16. squash — the sport
  17. squash — to crush
  18. kid — to tease
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. swing — to play on
  21. swing — music
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wake — before a funeral
  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