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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: bowl · fork · date · leaves · land · cold · pit · snap

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. land — a country
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. land — to come down
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. land — ground
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. pit — in a race
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. cold — not warm
  15. pit — a hole
  16. fork — in a road
  17. cold — an illness
  18. date — the fruit
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. snap — to click
  24. fork — to eat with

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