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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. march — the month
  3. bass — low music
  4. net — after costs
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. rule — a law
  8. date — the fruit
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. cold — not warm
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. bass — the fish
  15. mine — for digging
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. net — for catching
  18. march — the month
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. net — in sport
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. march — music
  23. cold — an illness
  24. rule — government

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