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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. cold — an illness
  3. swing — to play on
  4. mate — a partner
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. swing — music
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. mate — to breed
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. cold — not warm
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. swing — in golf
  21. wax — to grow
  22. fork — in a road
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. fan — to cool the air

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