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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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Word bank
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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: face · date · shower · content · patient · squash · fork · cold

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. face — to point toward
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. face — part of the head
  7. face — to confront
  8. date — the fruit
  9. content — the amount
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. shower — to wash
  13. content — happy
  14. squash — to crush
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. shower — rain
  19. squash — the sport
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. cold — an illness
  22. fork — in a road
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. cold — not warm

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