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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 120 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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. bat — the animal
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. ground — crushed
  7. ground — a position
  8. mate — a partner
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. pass — a permit
  12. prune — to trim
  13. plane — a tool
  14. ground — the earth
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. chair — a leader
  19. cold — an illness
  20. prune — to trim
  21. cold — not warm
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. mate — to breed

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