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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. rest — a break
  3. mate — to breed
  4. track — a song
  5. rest — what's left
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. field — a subject
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. mate — a friend
  11. field — farmland
  12. rest — what's left
  13. track — to keep track
  14. cold — not warm
  15. content — happy
  16. spell — letters
  17. spell — a short time
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. track — a path
  20. content — the amount
  21. mate — a partner
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. spell — magic
  24. field — for sport

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