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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. cell — in biology
  3. mate — a partner
  4. ground — a position
  5. capital — a city
  6. march — the month
  7. mate — a friend
  8. shower — rain
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. present — a gift
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. ground — the earth
  13. cell — a phone
  14. present — there
  15. shower — to wash
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. land — a country
  18. ground — crushed
  19. present — the time now
  20. land — ground
  21. land — to come down
  22. march — the month
  23. march — music
  24. capital — money

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