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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. drill — the tool
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. hand — help
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. drill — a practice
  9. branch — a division
  10. bat — the animal
  11. bank — for money
  12. hand — in cards
  13. bank — of a river
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. drill — army training
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. game — a match
  19. kid — to tease
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. kid — child
  22. bank — for money
  23. game — wild animals
  24. date — the fruit

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