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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: mate · kid · fork · snap · ball · wind · march · cold

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. fork — in a road
  3. march — the month
  4. wind — moving air
  5. march — the month
  6. kid — child
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. kid — to tease
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. snap — to click
  14. cold — not warm
  15. wind — moving air
  16. ball — a great time
  17. march — music
  18. ball — a dance
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. mate — a friend
  22. cold — an illness
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. mate — a partner

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