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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. snap — to click
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. cold — an illness
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. march — music
  8. cold — not warm
  9. march — the month
  10. present — there
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. drill — a practice
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. date — the fruit
  19. march — the month
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. present — the time now
  22. drill — the tool
  23. present — a gift
  24. drill — army training

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