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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. staff — employees
  4. staff — employees
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. clip — for paper
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. cold — an illness
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. mate — a partner
  13. kid — to tease
  14. clip — to cut
  15. staff — a stick
  16. deal — to handle
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. clip — a video
  19. kid — child
  20. hand — in cards
  21. cold — not warm
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. hand — help
  24. mate — to breed

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