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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 am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. cell — in biology
  4. last — to go on
  5. march — the month
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. march — the month
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. spring — of water
  15. last — final
  16. bark — to shout
  17. cell — a phone
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. last — finally
  20. spring — the season
  21. march — music
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. spring — a coil

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