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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. cue — a signal
  3. prune — to trim
  4. mate — to breed
  5. fall — to drop
  6. saw — the tool
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. cue — a hint
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. file — a document
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. mate — a partner
  14. mate — a friend
  15. file — a line of people
  16. pitch — completely
  17. prune — to trim
  18. fall — to drop
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. cue — for pool
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. file — a tool
  23. fall — the season
  24. cold — not warm

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