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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. hand — help
  4. mate — a friend
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. spring — of water
  7. game — wild animals
  8. can — to be able to
  9. mate — to breed
  10. can — a tin
  11. mark — a grade
  12. spring — the season
  13. mark — a trace
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. hand — in cards
  16. spring — a coil
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. cold — an illness
  21. can — a tin
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. game — a match

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