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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. capital — a city
  3. mate — a partner
  4. kid — to tease
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. bass — low music
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. chest — of your body
  9. date — the fruit
  10. bass — the fish
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. kid — child
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. mate — to breed
  16. spell — magic
  17. chest — a box
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. capital — money
  20. spell — letters
  21. stand — to bear
  22. spell — a short time
  23. stand — on your feet
  24. chest — of your body

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