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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. pit — a hole
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. last — final
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. field — for sport
  7. field — farmland
  8. pit — in a race
  9. field — a subject
  10. last — finally
  11. track — to keep track
  12. track — a path
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. staff — a stick
  15. date — the fruit
  16. cell — in biology
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. staff — employees
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. last — to go on
  21. track — a song
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. cell — a phone
  24. cell — in a prison

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