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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. mate — a partner
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. land — a country
  5. wake — a trail
  6. mate — to breed
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. spring — the season
  9. rash — a series
  10. prune — to trim
  11. rash — hasty
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. land — ground
  20. prune — to trim
  21. land — to come down
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — of water
  24. bowl — to roll

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