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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 116 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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. mate — a friend
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. spell — a short time
  5. race — a contest
  6. swing — to play on
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. swing — music
  9. spell — magic
  10. bat — the animal
  11. race — the arms race
  12. spell — letters
  13. swing — in golf
  14. mate — to breed
  15. row — to paddle
  16. row — a line
  17. race — humankind
  18. bat — in an idiom

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