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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. cap — of ice
  3. rush — hurry
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. cap — a hat
  11. pop — soda
  12. chest — a box
  13. pop — music
  14. land — a country
  15. spring — of water
  16. pop — to visit
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. land — to come down
  19. cap — a lid
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. date — the fruit
  22. spring — a coil
  23. land — ground
  24. spring — the season

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