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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. foot — a measure
  6. cold — an illness
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. dip — to sink
  9. swing — in golf
  10. swing — music
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. date — the fruit
  15. rule — a law
  16. swing — to play on
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. rule — government
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. branch — a division
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. date — on the calendar

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