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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 would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  23. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. mate — a partner
  3. mate — to breed
  4. file — a tool
  5. toast — bread
  6. mate — a friend
  7. field — farmland
  8. file — a document
  9. chest — of your body
  10. file — a line of people
  11. roll — a cake
  12. rest — what's left
  13. race — a contest
  14. field — for sport
  15. rest — what's left
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. field — a subject
  18. roll — a list
  19. race — the arms race
  20. race — humankind
  21. chest — of your body
  22. toast — a drink to someone
  23. toast — the most admired
  24. chest — a box

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