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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  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. prune — the fruit
  3. charge — a price
  4. cold — an illness
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. prune — to trim
  7. spring — a coil
  8. spring — the season
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. bore — to drill
  12. bore — to tire
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. prune — to trim
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. charge — in control
  17. club — for golf
  18. charge — electricity
  19. club — a group
  20. spring — of water
  21. club — for dancing
  22. date — on the calendar
  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