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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. march — the month
  3. march — the month
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. pitch — completely
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. last — to go on
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. spring — of water
  12. spring — a coil
  13. hand — help
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. field — farmland
  16. cold — not warm
  17. field — a subject
  18. cold — an illness
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. spring — the season
  21. field — for sport
  22. hand — in cards
  23. last — final
  24. last — finally

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