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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. row — a line
  3. field — a subject
  4. land — to come down
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. row — to paddle
  7. game — a match
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. land — ground
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. field — for sport
  13. roll — a list
  14. mine — for digging
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. roll — a cake
  19. land — a country
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. game — wild animals
  22. date — the fruit
  23. field — farmland
  24. roll — on a roll

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