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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. bat — the animal
  3. track — a song
  4. mate — a partner
  5. track — to keep track
  6. date — the fruit
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. ground — the earth
  9. season — of the year
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. band — a music group
  12. ground — crushed
  13. track — a path
  14. mate — to breed
  15. land — to come down
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. mate — a friend
  18. ground — a position
  19. land — ground
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. land — a country
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. season — in sport
  24. band — a ring

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