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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 can't ________________ this cold.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. march — music
  3. shower — to wash
  4. last — final
  5. clip — for paper
  6. march — the month
  7. march — the month
  8. mug — to rob
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. mug — a face
  11. drill — army training
  12. clip — a video
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. clip — to cut
  15. last — to go on
  16. fall — to drop
  17. drill — the tool
  18. mug — a cup
  19. drill — a practice
  20. last — finally
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. fall — the season
  24. fall — to drop

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