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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 116 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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Word bank
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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. mate — a friend
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. field — farmland
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wind — moving air
  8. vault — a safe
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. lean — to bend
  11. field — for sport
  12. vault — an arched ceiling
  13. mate — to breed
  14. degree — from a university
  15. field — a subject
  16. lean — thin
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wound — an injury
  20. degree — temperature
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. degree — an amount
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. wind — to turn a key

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