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

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. mate — a partner
  3. mate — to breed
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. drill — the tool
  6. rock — music
  7. drill — a practice
  8. capital — a city
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. drill — army training
  12. rock — a stone
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. march — the month
  15. march — the month
  16. capital — money
  17. march — music
  18. capital — a big letter

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