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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. kid — child
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. last — finally
  5. tube — the underground
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. scale — size or range
  9. last — final
  10. scale — in music
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. march — the month
  14. bark — to shout
  15. snap — to click
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. tube — a container
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. march — music
  21. kid — to tease
  22. bat — the animal
  23. last — to go on
  24. bark — of a tree

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