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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. land — ground
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. chest — of your body
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. mate — a partner
  7. net — after costs
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. kid — child
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. land — a country
  12. pound — a weight
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. net — for catching
  15. cell — a phone
  16. cell — in biology
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. net — in sport
  19. land — to come down
  20. mate — to breed
  21. chest — a box
  22. kid — to tease
  23. wake — a trail
  24. chest — of your body

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