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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. mate — a partner
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. cell — a phone
  6. wake — a trail
  7. fork — in a road
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. bat — the animal
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. craft — boats
  12. craft — a skill
  13. cell — in biology
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. mate — a friend
  17. chip — to eat
  18. capital — a city
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. capital — money
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. chip — for betting
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. mate — to breed

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