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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. field — a subject
  4. swing — in golf
  5. march — the month
  6. field — farmland
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. field — for sport
  10. march — music
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. swing — to play on
  14. mine — for digging
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. swing — music

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