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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. band — a music group
  3. drill — a practice
  4. march — the month
  5. fall — the season
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. root — the cause
  8. spring — of water
  9. pop — to visit
  10. fall — to drop
  11. root — of a plant
  12. pop — music
  13. spring — a coil
  14. root — of a word
  15. drill — the tool
  16. pop — soda
  17. march — music
  18. drill — army training
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. spring — the season
  21. march — the month
  22. mark — a trace
  23. mark — a grade
  24. fall — to drop

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