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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. mate — a friend
  3. mate — a partner
  4. tube — a container
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — in cards
  8. season — in sport
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. mate — to breed
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. net — in sport
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. cold — an illness
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. cold — not warm
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. season — of the year
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. net — for catching
  23. tube — the underground
  24. net — after costs

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