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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: last · cold · kid · field · date · suit · capital · file

  1. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. When will it ________________ you to start?
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. date — the fruit
  4. last — final
  5. capital — money
  6. file — a document
  7. kid — to tease
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. field — a subject
  10. kid — child
  11. field — for sport
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — an illness
  14. suit — in cards
  15. last — finally
  16. suit — clothes
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. file — a tool
  19. field — farmland
  20. suit — to fit
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. last — to go on
  24. capital — a city

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