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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. mate — a partner
  3. rest — what's left
  4. bound — tied together
  5. bound — certain
  6. file — a tool
  7. rest — a break
  8. last — final
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. rest — what's left
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. hand — help
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. last — finally
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. mine — for digging
  17. mate — a friend
  18. file — a document
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. bound — obliged
  21. branch — a division
  22. file — a line of people
  23. hand — in cards
  24. mate — to breed

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