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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: branch · face · cold · mate · bat · ruler · last · deal

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. mate — a friend
  3. bat — the animal
  4. last — to go on
  5. ruler — a monarch
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. last — final
  10. deal — to handle
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. face — to point toward
  15. last — finally
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. face — part of the head
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. face — to confront
  21. branch — a division
  22. cold — an illness
  23. mate — to breed
  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