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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 116 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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. dip — to sink
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. field — farmland
  5. field — for sport
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. march — music
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. field — a subject
  10. swing — to play on
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bass — the fish
  14. swing — music
  15. bass — low music
  16. march — the month
  17. swing — in golf
  18. dip — a sauce

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