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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. When was this ________________ built?
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. mate — a friend
  4. spring — of water
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. mate — a partner
  8. spring — the season
  9. craft — boats
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. craft — a skill
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. mate — to breed
  15. cold — an illness
  16. file — a line of people
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. spring — a coil
  19. file — a document
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. file — a tool

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