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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. date — the fruit
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. last — finally
  7. spring — the season
  8. spring — a coil
  9. chest — of your body
  10. land — to come down
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. firm — a company
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. last — to go on
  15. land — a country
  16. spring — of water
  17. firm — steady
  18. chest — a box
  19. firm — decided
  20. bat — the animal
  21. chest — of your body
  22. last — final
  23. date — on the calendar
  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