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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. cold — an illness
  3. mate — to breed
  4. can — a tin
  5. mate — a partner
  6. spell — magic
  7. can — a tin
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. pit — a hole
  11. chest — of your body
  12. can — to be able to
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. file — a line of people
  15. spell — letters
  16. spell — a short time
  17. chest — a box
  18. pit — in a race
  19. file — a tool
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. cold — not warm
  22. chest — of your body
  23. file — a document
  24. cold — the Cold War

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