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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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. face — to confront
  3. last — to go on
  4. cold — an illness
  5. face — to point toward
  6. last — final
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. rush — hurry
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. mate — a partner
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. bulb — for light
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. mate — to breed
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. file — a tool
  18. file — a document
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bulb — for light
  21. last — finally
  22. file — a line of people
  23. face — part of the head
  24. pitcher — a jug

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