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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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. craft — boats
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. craft — a skill
  7. field — a subject
  8. wind — moving air
  9. snap — to click
  10. field — for sport
  11. cold — not warm
  12. field — farmland
  13. wind — moving air
  14. mark — a trace
  15. mate — to breed
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. cold — an illness
  23. mark — a grade
  24. rush — hurry

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