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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. squash — the sport
  3. face — to point toward
  4. file — a line of people
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. wake — a trail
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. march — the month
  10. face — to confront
  11. face — part of the head
  12. row — a line
  13. row — to paddle
  14. file — a document
  15. march — the month
  16. march — music
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. mate — a partner
  19. mate — to breed
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. mate — a friend
  22. squash — to crush
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. file — a tool

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