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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. prune — to trim
  3. march — the month
  4. pop — to visit
  5. spell — letters
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. stock — shares
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. spell — a short time
  14. pop — soda
  15. wind — moving air
  16. capital — a city
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. spell — magic
  19. stock — goods
  20. prune — to trim
  21. pop — music
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. capital — money
  24. march — 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