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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. cold — an illness
  4. march — the month
  5. swing — to play on
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. chip — to eat
  10. drill — a practice
  11. mine — for digging
  12. drill — army training
  13. swing — music
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. swing — in golf
  18. drill — the tool
  19. shower — rain
  20. shower — to wash
  21. march — music
  22. chip — for betting
  23. deal — to handle
  24. cold — not warm

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