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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 valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. ground — a position
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. object — to protest
  5. land — to come down
  6. date — the fruit
  7. content — happy
  8. last — finally
  9. ground — crushed
  10. degree — temperature
  11. object — an aim
  12. land — ground
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. mate — a friend
  15. degree — from a university
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. last — to go on
  18. land — a country
  19. last — final
  20. degree — an amount
  21. mate — to breed
  22. content — the amount
  23. ground — the earth
  24. mate — a partner

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