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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. board — a committee
  5. band — a music group
  6. degree — an amount
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. board — to get on
  10. hand — in cards
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. date — the fruit
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. band — a ring
  16. hand — help
  17. cold — not warm
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. chip — for betting
  21. degree — temperature
  22. degree — from a university
  23. chip — to eat
  24. cold — an illness

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