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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. track — to keep track
  3. plane — a tool
  4. squash — the sport
  5. mate — to breed
  6. cap — a hat
  7. kid — child
  8. cap — of ice
  9. track — a song
  10. field — farmland
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. kid — to tease
  15. mate — a friend
  16. squash — to crush
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. mine — for digging
  19. cap — a lid
  20. field — for sport
  21. track — a path
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. field — a subject

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