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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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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: cabinet · cold · file · row · rest · mate · spring · game

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. mate — a partner
  3. cabinet — a cupboard
  4. row — to paddle
  5. game — a match
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. game — wild animals
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. spring — a coil
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. rest — a break
  14. rest — what's left
  15. mate — to breed
  16. spring — the season
  17. row — a line
  18. file — a tool
  19. spring — of water
  20. file — a document
  21. rest — what's left
  22. file — a line of people
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. cold — an illness

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