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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. track — a song
  3. track — a path
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. row — a line
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. degree — temperature
  10. degree — an amount
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — an illness
  13. track — to keep track
  14. pop — to visit
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. date — the fruit
  18. capital — money
  19. row — to paddle
  20. pop — soda
  21. rush — hurry
  22. capital — a city
  23. degree — from a university
  24. pop — music

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