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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. mine — for digging
  3. scale — size or range
  4. mate — a partner
  5. scale — in music
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. mate — a friend
  8. stem — to come from
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — an illness
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. mouse — for a computer
  16. mate — to breed
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. stem — a stem cell

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