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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. tube — a container
  4. march — the month
  5. court — of law
  6. ground — the earth
  7. court — for sport
  8. kid — child
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. ground — crushed
  11. race — humankind
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. bear — the animal
  14. kid — to tease
  15. race — a contest
  16. ground — a position
  17. race — the arms race
  18. bear — the animal
  19. march — the month
  20. tube — the underground
  21. court — of a king
  22. date — the fruit
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. bear — to put up with

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