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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. shower — to wash
  3. pass — a permit
  4. clip — for paper
  5. present — a gift
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. march — music
  8. clip — to cut
  9. march — the month
  10. mate — a partner
  11. march — the month
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. mate — a friend
  14. shower — rain
  15. cold — an illness
  16. clip — a video
  17. pass — to succeed
  18. vault — a safe
  19. present — the time now
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. present — there
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — not warm

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