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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. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — for spectators
  2. march — the month
  3. drill — the tool
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. court — for sport
  6. mate — a partner
  7. drill — army training
  8. court — of law
  9. cold — not warm
  10. snap — to click
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. stand — to bear
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. row — to paddle
  15. cold — an illness
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. march — the month
  19. march — music
  20. court — of a king
  21. drill — a practice
  22. mate — a friend
  23. row — a line
  24. mate — to breed

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