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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 120 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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. tear — to rip
  3. track — to keep track
  4. march — the month
  5. track — a song
  6. foot — a measure
  7. game — a match
  8. tear — from crying
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. foot — the bottom
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. chest — of your body
  15. game — wild animals
  16. track — a path
  17. sharp — clever
  18. bat — the animal
  19. march — the month
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. chest — of your body
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. chest — a box

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