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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. rash — hasty
  3. file — a line of people
  4. mate — to breed
  5. wind — moving air
  6. mouse — for a computer
  7. current — happening now
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. current — electric
  10. saw — the tool
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. wind — moving air
  14. file — a tool
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. saw — the tool
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. rash — a series
  20. mate — a partner
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. file — a document
  24. current — of water

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