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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. last — final
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. band — a music group
  6. band — a ring
  7. stock — shares
  8. mate — a friend
  9. roll — a list
  10. race — a contest
  11. face — to confront
  12. roll — a cake
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. race — humankind
  15. pound — a weight
  16. race — the arms race
  17. last — finally
  18. stock — goods
  19. face — to point toward
  20. mate — to breed
  21. last — to go on
  22. face — part of the head
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. stock — a soup base

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