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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. pop — to visit
  3. ball — a dance
  4. cold — not warm
  5. present — there
  6. march — music
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. mate — to breed
  9. bear — the animal
  10. mate — a partner
  11. mate — a friend
  12. present — the time now
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. bear — the animal
  15. present — a gift
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pop — soda
  18. press — to push
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. press — a publisher
  21. press — newspapers
  22. march — the month
  23. march — the month
  24. pop — music

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