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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. mate — a friend
  3. game — wild animals
  4. mate — to breed
  5. last — final
  6. last — to go on
  7. season — in sport
  8. game — a match
  9. chest — of your body
  10. cold — not warm
  11. wake — a trail
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. cold — an illness
  14. mate — a partner
  15. cue — for pool
  16. chest — a box
  17. cue — a signal
  18. last — finally
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. season — of the year
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. cue — a hint
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. chest — of your body

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