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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. present — a gift
  3. present — the time now
  4. wound — an injury
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. wound — an injury
  7. fall — to drop
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. court — for sport
  10. march — music
  11. lean — to bend
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. court — of a king
  14. march — the month
  15. court — of law
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. cold — not warm
  18. fall — to drop
  19. march — the month
  20. present — there
  21. cold — an illness
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. fall — the season

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