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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: lie · degree · date · toast · pitcher · fork · cold · club

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. degree — from a university
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. toast — a drink to someone
  5. date — the fruit
  6. degree — an amount
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. club — a group
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. lie — to recline
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — an illness
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. club — for golf
  21. degree — temperature
  22. club — for dancing
  23. fork — in a road
  24. date — on the calendar

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