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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — for sport
  5. rush — hurry
  6. cell — a phone
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. file — a tool
  11. field — farmland
  12. cell — in biology
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. wind — moving air
  15. pop — to visit
  16. pop — music
  17. pop — soda
  18. mate — a friend
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. wind — moving air
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a document
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. mate — to breed

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