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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. key — for a lock
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. row — to paddle
  5. land — a country
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. key — the most important part
  8. shower — to wash
  9. land — ground
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. snap — to click
  12. fall — the season
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. fall — to drop
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. land — to come down
  18. fall — to drop
  19. key — in music
  20. date — the fruit
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. shower — rain
  23. row — a line
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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