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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: last · shower · chest · date · stick · cap

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. cap — a hat
  3. shower — to wash
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. chest — of your body
  6. shower — rain
  7. last — final
  8. cap — of ice
  9. date — the fruit
  10. last — to go on
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. cap — a lid
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — a box
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. last — finally

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