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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. wind — moving air
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. degree — from a university
  6. bat — the animal
  7. mate — a partner
  8. squash — the sport
  9. march — the month
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. wind — moving air
  13. ball — a great time
  14. mate — a friend
  15. degree — temperature
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. lie — to recline
  18. march — the month
  19. ball — a dance
  20. squash — to crush
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. degree — an amount
  23. march — music
  24. bat — for baseball

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