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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 120 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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. mate — a friend
  3. present — a gift
  4. mate — to breed
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. content — the amount
  7. press — a publisher
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. cold — not warm
  10. press — to push
  11. ball — a dance
  12. ball — a great time
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. swing — in golf
  15. swing — to play on
  16. present — the time now
  17. content — happy
  18. present — there
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. cold — an illness
  21. swing — music
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. press — newspapers
  24. cold — the Cold War

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