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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. ball — a great time
  3. hand — help
  4. rule — government
  5. rule — a law
  6. mate — a friend
  7. spell — letters
  8. spell — magic
  9. hand — in cards
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. file — a line of people
  12. file — a document
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. spell — a short time
  16. mate — to breed
  17. file — a tool
  18. ball — a dance

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