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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 had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. last — final
  4. last — finally
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. bat — the animal
  9. date — the fruit
  10. rule — government
  11. club — a group
  12. rule — a law
  13. shower — to wash
  14. last — to go on
  15. club — for dancing
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. kid — to tease
  18. shower — rain
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. rush — hurry
  23. club — for golf
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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