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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: wind · object · date · cell · kid · pass · present · last

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. pass — a permit
  3. kid — to tease
  4. cell — a phone
  5. kid — child
  6. object — to protest
  7. wind — moving air
  8. object — an aim
  9. present — the time now
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. wind — moving air
  14. date — the fruit
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. last — to go on
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — in biology
  19. object — a thing
  20. last — finally
  21. present — there
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. present — a gift
  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