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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. rush — hurry
  3. march — the month
  4. mate — a friend
  5. spring — a coil
  6. wake — a trail
  7. mate — to breed
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. march — the month
  10. present — the time now
  11. march — music
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. mate — a partner
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. game — a match
  20. present — a gift
  21. spring — of water
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. game — wild animals
  24. spring — the season

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