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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. spring — of water
  3. spring — the season
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. toast — the most admired
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cell — a phone
  9. march — the month
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. cold — an illness
  12. toast — bread
  13. spring — a coil
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. mate — a friend
  16. march — the month
  17. mate — a partner
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. mate — to breed
  22. cell — in biology
  23. pitch — completely
  24. toast — a drink to someone

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