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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  4. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. bay — a part of the sea
  4. bay — to keep at bay
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — a subject
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. field — farmland
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. mate — a partner
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. mate — a friend
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. content — the amount
  15. shower — to wash
  16. content — happy
  17. bass — the fish
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bass — low music
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. cold — not warm
  22. shower — rain
  23. tube — a container
  24. tube — the underground

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