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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. mate — to breed
  6. scale — in music
  7. mate — a friend
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. root — of a plant
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. scale — size or range
  14. row — a line
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. root — of a word
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. cold — not warm
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. row — to paddle
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. root — the cause
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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