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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. roll — a list
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — from crying
  5. kid — child
  6. march — music
  7. march — the month
  8. roll — a cake
  9. date — the fruit
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. snap — to click
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. field — farmland
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. kid — to tease
  18. field — for sport
  19. tear — to rip
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. field — a subject
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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