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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: season · date · vault · shower · spring · snap · ground · last

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. spring — the season
  3. shower — to wash
  4. last — final
  5. spring — of water
  6. date — the fruit
  7. season — of the year
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. snap — to click
  10. shower — rain
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. season — in sport
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. ground — crushed
  16. ground — the earth
  17. last — finally
  18. ground — a position
  19. spring — a coil
  20. last — to go on
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. vault — a safe
  24. date — on the calendar

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