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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. current — of water
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. spell — a short time
  9. wound — an injury
  10. cold — an illness
  11. row — to paddle
  12. spell — magic
  13. row — a line
  14. cold — not warm
  15. chip — to eat
  16. spell — letters
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bark — to shout
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. current — happening now
  22. wound — an injury
  23. chip — for betting
  24. current — electric

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