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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. track — a song
  4. march — the month
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. march — music
  7. track — a path
  8. net — after costs
  9. fall — to drop
  10. ball — a great time
  11. cold — not warm
  12. date — the fruit
  13. chest — a box
  14. net — in sport
  15. fall — to drop
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. march — the month
  18. ball — a dance
  19. chest — of your body
  20. chest — of your body
  21. cold — an illness
  22. fall — the season
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. track — to keep track

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