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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: date · kid · cell · mate · field · capital

  1. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. kid — child
  3. field — farmland
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. field — a subject
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. capital — money
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cell — a phone
  10. field — for sport
  11. mate — a partner
  12. capital — a city
  13. mate — a friend
  14. kid — to tease
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. date — the fruit
  18. mate — to breed

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