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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. kid — child
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. degree — temperature
  7. degree — from a university
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. kid — to tease
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. degree — an amount
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. cold — an illness
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. cold — not warm
  19. stem — to come from
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. wax — to grow
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. date — on the calendar

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