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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 university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. date — the fruit
  3. land — ground
  4. track — a song
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. degree — an amount
  9. track — to keep track
  10. dip — to sink
  11. prune — to trim
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. land — to come down
  16. land — a country
  17. last — final
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. last — finally
  21. track — a path
  22. last — to go on
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. degree — temperature

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