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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: fork · root · band · court · swing · date · patient · squash

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. squash — to crush
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. band — a music group
  5. swing — to play on
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. root — of a word
  10. court — of a king
  11. band — a ring
  12. fork — in a road
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. date — the fruit
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. swing — music
  19. root — of a plant
  20. squash — the sport
  21. court — for sport
  22. swing — in golf
  23. court — of law
  24. root — the cause

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