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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. cap — a hat
  3. march — music
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. ball — a great time
  6. cap — a lid
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. ball — a dance
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wound — an injury
  11. cap — of ice
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — an illness
  14. pit — a hole
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. bear — the animal
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. wound — an injury
  20. march — the month
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. bear — the animal
  23. pit — in a race
  24. wind — moving air

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