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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Where did you ________________ them?
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  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 — a friend
  2. court — for sport
  3. court — of law
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. wake — a trail
  6. field — a subject
  7. rush — hurry
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. clip — to cut
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. court — of a king
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. clip — for paper
  14. mug — a face
  15. file — a line of people
  16. mate — to breed
  17. file — a document
  18. mug — a cup
  19. field — for sport
  20. file — a tool
  21. clip — a video
  22. mug — to rob
  23. field — farmland
  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