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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 116 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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. last — final
  3. march — music
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cap — a hat
  6. firm — steady
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. prune — to trim
  9. tube — the underground
  10. last — finally
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. firm — decided
  13. march — the month
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. mine — for digging
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bat — the animal
  18. cap — of ice
  19. last — to go on
  20. tube — a container
  21. firm — a company
  22. march — the month
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. cap — a lid

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