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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. cell — a phone
  3. hand — in cards
  4. track — a path
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. hand — help
  7. track — a song
  8. mate — a friend
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. wake — a trail
  11. cell — in biology
  12. rush — hurry
  13. drill — the tool
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. drill — a practice
  17. wind — moving air
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. track — to keep track
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. drill — army training
  24. mate — to breed

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