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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 116 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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. mate — a friend
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. kid — to tease
  5. cell — a phone
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. march — the month
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bat — the animal
  12. pound — a weight
  13. mate — a partner
  14. mate — to breed
  15. march — music
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. march — the month
  18. squash — to crush
  19. wind — moving air
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. wind — moving air
  22. squash — the sport
  23. kid — child
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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