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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. wind — moving air
  3. file — a line of people
  4. face — to confront
  5. last — final
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. calf — of the leg
  8. face — part of the head
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. file — a tool
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. face — to point toward
  13. cold — an illness
  14. mate — to breed
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. file — a document
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. last — finally
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. last — to go on
  23. mate — a friend
  24. sharp — clever

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