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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 116 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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. last — to go on
  3. march — the month
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. march — music
  6. last — finally
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. last — final
  10. file — a tool
  11. kid — to tease
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. band — a ring
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. file — a document
  17. kid — child
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. cold — not warm
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. band — a music group
  22. file — a line of people
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. cold — an illness

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