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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. tear — from crying
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. field — for sport
  6. march — the month
  7. jam — to spread on bread
  8. pop — to visit
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. rush — hurry
  12. field — farmland
  13. tear — from crying
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. date — the fruit
  16. pop — music
  17. tear — to rip
  18. clip — to cut
  19. march — music
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — for paper
  22. pop — soda
  23. field — a subject
  24. jam — a tight spot

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