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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. rash — hasty
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — for sport
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. mate — a partner
  10. rash — a series
  11. band — a music group
  12. plane — a tool
  13. band — a ring
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. field — farmland
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. mate — to breed
  18. plane — in geometry

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