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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: date · race · craft · cap · cell · bark · leaves · bat

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. cell — a phone
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. cap — a lid
  7. craft — a skill
  8. cap — a hat
  9. craft — boats
  10. bark — to shout
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. cell — in biology
  19. date — the fruit
  20. cap — of ice
  21. race — the arms race
  22. race — a contest
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. leaves — lets stay

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