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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. game — a match
  4. rock — music
  5. cold — an illness
  6. swing — music
  7. mate — to breed
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. root — of a plant
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. root — the cause
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. rock — a stone
  17. swing — to play on
  18. mate — a friend
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. cold — not warm
  21. swing — in golf
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. root — of a word

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