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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. tear — to rip
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. march — the month
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. cold — not warm
  8. swing — in golf
  9. key — the most important part
  10. bank — for money
  11. key — for a lock
  12. march — music
  13. tear — from crying
  14. march — the month
  15. tear — from crying
  16. rush — hurry
  17. swing — music
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. bank — of a river
  20. key — in music
  21. pound — a weight
  22. bank — for money
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — the Cold War

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