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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. kid — to tease
  3. degree — temperature
  4. capital — money
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. date — the fruit
  7. degree — from a university
  8. bat — the animal
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. kid — child
  11. net — for catching
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. net — after costs
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. degree — an amount
  19. net — in sport
  20. capital — a city
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. bat — in an idiom

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