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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. mate — a friend
  3. mate — a partner
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. capital — a city
  6. perch — the fish
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. bat — the animal
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. mate — to breed
  13. bore — to tire
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spring — of water
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. spring — the season
  18. capital — money
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. bass — the fish
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. bore — to drill
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. bass — low music

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