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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. last — to go on
  4. last — final
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. cold — not warm
  7. mate — a friend
  8. cold — an illness
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. mate — to breed
  14. pit — a hole
  15. kid — to tease
  16. content — happy
  17. rush — hurry
  18. content — the amount
  19. kid — child
  20. pit — in a race
  21. last — finally
  22. mate — a partner
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. content — videos and posts

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