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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. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. field — a subject
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. field — farmland
  6. cell — in biology
  7. current — electric
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. degree — from a university
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. cold — an illness
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. current — happening now
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. degree — temperature
  17. cell — a phone
  18. chip — for betting
  19. current — of water
  20. chip — to eat
  21. field — for sport
  22. degree — an amount
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — not warm

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