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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. spell — letters
  3. hand — help
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. mate — to breed
  6. capital — a city
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. degree — an amount
  9. degree — temperature
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. mate — a partner
  12. spell — a short time
  13. spell — magic
  14. roll — a list
  15. hand — in cards
  16. court — of law
  17. court — for sport
  18. capital — money
  19. mine — for digging
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. court — of a king
  23. degree — from a university
  24. roll — a cake

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