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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. shower — rain
  3. mate — a friend
  4. game — wild animals
  5. rule — government
  6. bass — low music
  7. bound — certain
  8. field — a subject
  9. bound — obliged
  10. shower — to wash
  11. bound — tied together
  12. field — farmland
  13. game — a match
  14. mate — to breed
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. field — for sport
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. court — of law
  20. court — for sport
  21. court — of a king
  22. bass — the fish
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. rule — a law

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