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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 keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. club — a group
  3. club — for dancing
  4. bass — low music
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. march — music
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. squash — to crush
  9. squash — the sport
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. wound — an injury
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. track — a song
  14. track — a path
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. cold — not warm
  17. roll — a cake
  18. bass — the fish
  19. march — the month
  20. club — for golf
  21. wound — an injury
  22. roll — a list
  23. march — the month
  24. cold — an illness

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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