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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. march — the month
  4. track — to keep track
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. march — the month
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. content — the amount
  12. content — happy
  13. march — music
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. date — the fruit
  16. track — a path
  17. cold — not warm
  18. pitch — completely
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. cold — an illness
  22. track — a song
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. perch — the fish

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