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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 water is too ________________.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. cold — not warm
  3. rest — a break
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. cell — a phone
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. spring — the season
  9. rest — what's left
  10. cell — in biology
  11. race — the arms race
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. rest — what's left
  14. race — a contest
  15. mate — a partner
  16. spring — a coil
  17. pop — soda
  18. spring — of water
  19. mate — to breed
  20. pop — music
  21. pop — to visit
  22. pitch — completely
  23. race — humankind
  24. cell — in a prison

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