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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: chest · last · fan · pitch · jam · cold · date · root

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. last — finally
  4. root — of a word
  5. chest — a box
  6. cold — not warm
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. jam — a tight spot
  11. pitch — completely
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. date — the fruit
  14. chest — of your body
  15. root — of a plant
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. jam — to spread on bread
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. last — final
  20. chest — of your body
  21. cold — an illness
  22. root — the cause
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. jam — in traffic

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