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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 120 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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ball — a great time
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. march — music
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. kid — to tease
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. march — the month
  9. cold — an illness
  10. march — the month
  11. capital — a city
  12. ball — a dance
  13. bound — obliged
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. rock — music
  17. bound — tied together
  18. pit — a hole
  19. kid — child
  20. pit — in a race
  21. rock — a stone
  22. capital — money
  23. bound — certain
  24. ball — a round shape

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