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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 120 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. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. mark — a grade
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. cold — not warm
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. drill — a practice
  10. capital — money
  11. hand — help
  12. drill — the tool
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. mate — a friend
  15. hand — in cards
  16. mate — to breed
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. row — a line
  19. cold — an illness
  20. drill — army training
  21. capital — a city
  22. mark — a trace
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. row — to paddle

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