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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. wound — an injury
  4. mate — to breed
  5. land — ground
  6. land — a country
  7. court — of a king
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. court — of law
  10. land — to come down
  11. content — the amount
  12. cold — an illness
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. wound — an injury
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. court — for sport
  18. mate — a friend
  19. content — happy
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. cold — not warm
  22. mark — a grade
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. mark — a trace

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