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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. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. craft — a skill
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. spring — of water
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. cold — not warm
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. cold — an illness
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. jam — a tight spot
  15. capital — money
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. spring — a coil
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. capital — a city
  22. craft — boats
  23. spring — the season
  24. coach — a trainer

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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