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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: field · last · saw · shower · wake · spring · date · cap

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. last — final
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. date — the fruit
  5. shower — rain
  6. field — farmland
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. wake — a trail
  11. saw — the tool
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. cap — a hat
  14. spring — the season
  15. saw — the tool
  16. shower — to wash
  17. spring — of water
  18. spring — a coil
  19. field — for sport
  20. cap — of ice
  21. last — finally
  22. field — a subject
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. last — to go on

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