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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. cold — an illness
  3. swing — music
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. ball — a dance
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. swing — in golf
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. last — to go on
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. cold — not warm
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. last — finally
  14. swing — to play on
  15. ball — a great time
  16. last — final
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. season — in sport
  20. capital — money
  21. capital — a city
  22. rock — a stone
  23. season — of the year
  24. coach — a trainer

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