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

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. squash — to crush
  5. march — the month
  6. land — to come down
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. march — music
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. cell — a phone
  14. pitch — completely
  15. land — a country
  16. cell — in biology
  17. land — ground
  18. march — the month

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