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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. land — a country
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. capital — money
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. land — to come down
  9. clip — to cut
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. capital — a city
  14. land — ground
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. mate — to breed
  19. mate — a friend
  20. clip — for paper
  21. mate — a partner
  22. clip — a video
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. date — the fruit

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