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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 · date · cold · jam · bat · current · race · track

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  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. track — a path
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. track — to keep track
  4. bat — the animal
  5. land — ground
  6. current — of water
  7. jam — to spread on bread
  8. race — humankind
  9. current — electric
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. land — a country
  12. race — a contest
  13. race — the arms race
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. cold — an illness
  16. current — happening now
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. cold — not warm
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. land — to come down
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. track — a song
  23. date — on the calendar
  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