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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: board · land · hand · date · shower · march · cap · fine

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. cap — a hat
  5. land — a country
  6. cap — of ice
  7. hand — help
  8. date — the fruit
  9. march — the month
  10. land — to come down
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. march — music
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. board — to get on
  15. shower — to wash
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. hand — in cards
  18. fine — high quality
  19. fine — all right
  20. shower — rain
  21. board — a committee
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. march — the month
  24. land — ground

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