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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. cold — an illness
  3. land — a country
  4. file — a line of people
  5. saw — the tool
  6. saw — the tool
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. game — wild animals
  9. file — a tool
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. land — to come down
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. march — the month
  15. swing — in golf
  16. swing — music
  17. cold — not warm
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. land — ground
  20. game — a match
  21. swing — to play on
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. file — a document
  24. march — music

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