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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. mate — a friend
  3. spell — a short time
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. stem — to come from
  6. ball — a great time
  7. shower — to wash
  8. row — to paddle
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. spring — the season
  11. shower — rain
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. row — a line
  14. spring — of water
  15. squash — the sport
  16. spell — magic
  17. squash — to crush
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. mate — to breed
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. ball — a dance
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. spring — a coil
  24. spell — letters

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