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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. pop — music
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. row — to paddle
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. mine — for digging
  7. row — a line
  8. pop — to visit
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. pass — to succeed
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. pass — a permit
  17. pop — soda
  18. stem — to come from
  19. bat — the animal
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. date — the fruit
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. hand — help

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