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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. band — a ring
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. cold — an illness
  8. board — to get on
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. face — to confront
  13. march — the month
  14. cold — not warm
  15. face — to point toward
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. pound — a weight
  18. band — a music group
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. board — a committee
  21. wound — an injury
  22. face — part of the head
  23. wound — an injury
  24. march — the month

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