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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. mate — to breed
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. mate — a partner
  5. mate — a friend
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. cue — a hint
  9. bat — the animal
  10. cue — a signal
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. cold — not warm
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — to wash
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. degree — from a university
  17. prune — to trim
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. degree — temperature
  20. cue — for pool
  21. prune — to trim
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. cold — an illness
  24. degree — an amount

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