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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: land · bear · date · straw · last · march · ground · pitcher

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. last — final
  3. ground — a position
  4. march — the month
  5. last — finally
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. march — music
  8. land — ground
  9. bear — the animal
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. land — a country
  12. bear — the animal
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. ground — crushed
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. ground — the earth
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. march — the month
  20. last — to go on
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. land — to come down
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. date — the fruit

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