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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. clip — to cut
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. date — the fruit
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. bat — the animal
  14. fine — high quality
  15. capital — a city
  16. spring — the season
  17. fine — all right
  18. spring — a coil
  19. clip — for paper
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. clip — a video
  22. spring — of water
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. capital — money

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