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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 116 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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. track — a song
  3. last — finally
  4. degree — temperature
  5. degree — an amount
  6. capital — money
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. track — a path
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. track — to keep track
  11. mate — a friend
  12. last — to go on
  13. degree — from a university
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. fall — the season
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. mate — to breed
  18. fall — to drop
  19. last — final
  20. capital — a city
  21. perch — the fish
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. fall — to drop
  24. straw — dry grass

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