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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. net — in sport
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. march — the month
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. band — a ring
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. mine — for digging
  11. band — a music group
  12. date — the fruit
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. hand — help
  16. march — the month
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. march — music
  19. hand — in cards
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. pass — a permit
  22. net — after costs
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. net — for catching

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