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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. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  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. craft — a skill
  3. cold — an illness
  4. craft — boats
  5. scale — in music
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. ground — a position
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. game — wild animals
  11. ground — the earth
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. bat — the animal
  14. game — a match
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. scale — size or range
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. ground — crushed
  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