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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. field — farmland
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. last — to go on
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. last — finally
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. roll — a cake
  9. last — final
  10. spell — magic
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. spell — a short time
  14. band — a music group
  15. date — the fruit
  16. spell — letters
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. band — a ring
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. field — for sport
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. roll — a list
  23. field — a subject
  24. cold — an illness

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