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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. chair — a leader
  6. march — music
  7. capital — a city
  8. club — a group
  9. can — to be able to
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. can — a tin
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. band — a music group
  15. capital — money
  16. club — for dancing
  17. can — a tin
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. band — a ring
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. club — for golf
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. capital — a big letter
  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