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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. staff — employees
  3. march — music
  4. march — the month
  5. pop — soda
  6. race — the arms race
  7. band — a music group
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. object — to protest
  10. staff — a stick
  11. fork — in a road
  12. race — a contest
  13. drill — army training
  14. pop — music
  15. race — humankind
  16. drill — the tool
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. pop — to visit
  19. object — a thing
  20. object — an aim
  21. staff — employees
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. drill — a practice
  24. march — the month

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