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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: cold · pitcher · content · trunk · date · hand · land · face

  1. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. land — ground
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. hand — in cards
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. face — part of the head
  10. content — happy
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. land — to come down
  17. content — the amount
  18. face — to confront
  19. cold — not warm
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. hand — help
  23. land — a country
  24. face — to point toward

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