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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 120 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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. present — a gift
  3. row — a line
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. mate — a partner
  7. mate — to breed
  8. row — to paddle
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. saw — the tool
  12. saw — the tool
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. branch — a division
  15. mate — a friend
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. present — the time now
  18. cold — an illness
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. present — there
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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