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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

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

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. fall — the season
  3. hand — in cards
  4. fall — to drop
  5. season — of the year
  6. march — music
  7. march — the month
  8. ball — a great time
  9. season — in sport
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. march — the month
  12. cell — in biology
  13. fall — to drop
  14. hand — help
  15. ball — a dance
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — a phone

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