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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 who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. fall — to drop
  3. march — the month
  4. land — to come down
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. date — the fruit
  7. march — the month
  8. march — music
  9. land — ground
  10. swing — music
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. swing — in golf
  13. land — a country
  14. bat — the animal
  15. swing — to play on
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. field — a subject
  18. fall — the season
  19. field — farmland
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. field — for sport
  23. fall — to drop
  24. bat — for baseball

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