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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: march · calf · hand · date · cold · content · land · present

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. present — a gift
  3. date — the fruit
  4. content — happy
  5. hand — in cards
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. march — music
  8. present — the time now
  9. land — to come down
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — not warm
  13. present — there
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. hand — help
  16. march — the month
  17. cold — an illness
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. content — the amount
  20. march — the month
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. land — ground
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. calf — a young animal

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