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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. mate — to breed
  3. chest — of your body
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. ball — a dance
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. chest — a box
  9. kid — to tease
  10. race — humankind
  11. mate — a partner
  12. wake — a trail
  13. mate — a friend
  14. race — a contest
  15. march — the month
  16. chest — of your body
  17. kid — child
  18. ball — a great time
  19. race — the arms race
  20. march — music
  21. shower — to wash
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. shower — rain
  24. march — the month

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