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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. mate — a friend
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. ground — a position
  5. ground — the earth
  6. ground — crushed
  7. chest — of your body
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. chest — of your body
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. mate — to breed
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. kid — to tease
  20. kid — child
  21. chest — a box
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. coach — a trainer

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