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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. key — the most important part
  3. date — the fruit
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. prune — to trim
  7. key — for a lock
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. land — to come down
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. wind — moving air
  12. land — a country
  13. land — ground
  14. march — the month
  15. key — in music
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. wind — moving air
  19. march — the month
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. march — music
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. prune — to trim

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