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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. kid — to tease
  6. mate — a friend
  7. bat — the animal
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. game — wild animals
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. plane — a tool
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. mate — to breed
  15. game — a match
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. kid — child
  18. bat — for baseball

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