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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. field — a subject
  3. shower — rain
  4. cell — a phone
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. mate — to breed
  7. stock — shares
  8. shower — to wash
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. cell — in biology
  11. sharp — clever
  12. field — farmland
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. wound — an injury
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. field — for sport
  18. stock — goods
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. wound — an injury
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. mate — a partner
  24. leaves — of a tree

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