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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. content — the amount
  4. field — for sport
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. field — a subject
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. shower — to wash
  9. tear — to rip
  10. tear — from crying
  11. rush — hurry
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. mate — to breed
  15. scale — in music
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. scale — size or range
  18. wound — an injury
  19. mate — a partner
  20. field — farmland
  21. content — happy
  22. tear — from crying
  23. wound — an injury
  24. shower — rain

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