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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. mate — a friend
  3. lean — thin
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. track — a path
  6. lean — to bend
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. tear — from crying
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. mate — to breed
  11. key — in music
  12. track — a song
  13. race — humankind
  14. tear — from crying
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. chair — a leader
  17. race — a contest
  18. track — to keep track
  19. key — the most important part
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. mine — for digging
  22. race — the arms race
  23. key — for a lock
  24. tear — to rip

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