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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 ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. race — humankind
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. saw — the tool
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. branch — a division
  12. wake — a trail
  13. dip — to sink
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. capital — a city
  16. race — the arms race
  17. race — a contest
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — from crying
  20. saw — the tool
  21. capital — money
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. tear — to rip

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