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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. last — finally
  3. field — a subject
  4. land — ground
  5. cap — a hat
  6. field — for sport
  7. prune — to trim
  8. cap — a lid
  9. land — a country
  10. race — a contest
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. last — to go on
  13. prune — to trim
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. race — humankind
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. race — the arms race
  18. cap — of ice
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. last — final
  21. land — to come down
  22. field — farmland
  23. date — the fruit
  24. prune — the fruit

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