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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. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. row — to paddle
  3. cold — an illness
  4. file — a document
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. file — a tool
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — not warm
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. march — the month
  12. stem — to come from
  13. mate — a partner
  14. file — a line of people
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. row — a line
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. march — the month
  22. mate — to breed
  23. dip — to sink
  24. march — 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