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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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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. mate — a friend
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. face — to confront
  5. face — part of the head
  6. bass — low music
  7. cell — a phone
  8. bass — the fish
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. capital — a city
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. capital — money
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. mate — a partner
  15. face — to point toward
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. content — the amount
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. cell — in biology
  20. spring — the season
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. spring — of water
  23. content — happy
  24. spring — a coil

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