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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. track — a song
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. track — to keep track
  6. degree — from a university
  7. prune — to trim
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. race — the arms race
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. cell — a phone
  12. ground — a position
  13. ground — the earth
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. prune — to trim
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. degree — an amount
  18. track — a path
  19. race — a contest
  20. date — the fruit
  21. ground — crushed
  22. degree — temperature
  23. race — humankind
  24. cell — in biology

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