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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. row — to paddle
  3. cold — not warm
  4. march — music
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. field — for sport
  8. pass — to succeed
  9. field — a subject
  10. pass — a permit
  11. march — the month
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pass — to spend time
  14. field — farmland
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. snap — to click
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. row — a line
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. march — the month
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. cold — an illness
  24. pitcher — a jug

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