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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. bound — certain
  3. degree — temperature
  4. ground — a position
  5. shower — to wash
  6. degree — an amount
  7. field — farmland
  8. date — the fruit
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. field — a subject
  11. rock — music
  12. degree — from a university
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. field — for sport
  16. bound — obliged
  17. shower — rain
  18. rock — a stone
  19. rule — government
  20. rule — a law
  21. ground — crushed
  22. ground — the earth
  23. rock — to move gently
  24. bound — tied together

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