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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. staff — employees
  3. mate — to breed
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. file — a line of people
  7. file — a tool
  8. track — a path
  9. mate — a partner
  10. track — to keep track
  11. cold — an illness
  12. staff — employees
  13. stem — to come from
  14. key — in music
  15. key — for a lock
  16. file — a document
  17. track — a song
  18. mate — a friend
  19. key — the most important part
  20. staff — a stick
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. cold — the Cold War

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