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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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468
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: face · drill · spell · mate · cold · squash · file · pitch

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. file — a line of people
  3. drill — army training
  4. mate — a friend
  5. file — a tool
  6. pitch — completely
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — not warm
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. face — part of the head
  13. face — to confront
  14. mate — to breed
  15. spell — letters
  16. squash — to crush
  17. spell — magic
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. file — a document
  20. face — to point toward
  21. drill — a practice
  22. squash — the sport
  23. spell — a short time
  24. drill — the tool

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