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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. mate — a friend
  3. tear — to rip
  4. mate — to breed
  5. march — the month
  6. squash — the sport
  7. cold — not warm
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. squash — to crush
  11. mate — a partner
  12. track — a path
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. track — to keep track
  15. march — the month
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. dip — to sink
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. march — music
  24. cold — an illness

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