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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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Word bank
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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: land · cold · mate · wave · cell · track · bore · last

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. mate — a friend
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. last — finally
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. track — a path
  7. bore — to tire
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. last — final
  10. land — to come down
  11. bore — to drill
  12. mate — a partner
  13. track — a song
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. track — to keep track
  17. mate — to breed
  18. land — a country
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. land — ground
  22. last — to go on
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cell — in a prison

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