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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. wind — moving air
  5. spring — the season
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. wind — moving air
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. spring — a coil
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. file — a document
  14. mate — a friend
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. file — a tool
  18. file — a line of people
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. bark — to shout
  22. perch — the fish
  23. spring — of water
  24. mate — a partner

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