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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Where did you ________________ them?
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. mug — a face
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. mug — to rob
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. cold — an illness
  10. wound — an injury
  11. bear — the animal
  12. snap — to click
  13. mug — a cup
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. fork — in a road
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. cold — not warm
  19. date — the fruit
  20. mine — for digging
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. wound — an injury
  24. bear — the animal

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