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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. track — a path
  3. track — to keep track
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. cold — an illness
  7. spring — the season
  8. spring — a coil
  9. rock — music
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. spring — of water
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. rock — to move gently
  14. rock — a stone
  15. shower — to wash
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. perch — the fish
  18. mate — a partner
  19. track — a song
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. mate — to breed
  22. shower — rain
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. pitcher — a jug

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