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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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. When will it ________________ you to start?
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. board — a committee
  3. spell — letters
  4. spell — magic
  5. bound — certain
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. suit — in cards
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. mine — for digging
  12. capital — money
  13. spell — a short time
  14. board — to get on
  15. suit — clothes
  16. bound — obliged
  17. bound — tied together
  18. cold — not warm
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. suit — to fit
  21. march — the month
  22. march — the month
  23. cold — an illness
  24. capital — a city

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