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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bulb — for light
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. degree — temperature
  6. hand — in cards
  7. cold — not warm
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. bulb — for light
  10. degree — an amount
  11. mate — to breed
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. degree — from a university
  15. field — a subject
  16. ball — a dance
  17. field — farmland
  18. ball — a great time
  19. rush — hurry
  20. hand — help
  21. mate — a friend
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. field — for sport
  24. cold — an illness

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