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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. cell — in biology
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. perch — the fish
  5. mate — a partner
  6. spring — the season
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. spring — a coil
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — the animal
  12. spring — of water
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. temple — side of the head
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. mate — to breed
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. cell — a phone
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. mine — for digging

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