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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. ball — a great time
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. field — farmland
  9. wind — moving air
  10. field — for sport
  11. ball — a dance
  12. vault — a safe
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. capital — money
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. wind — moving air
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. capital — a city
  19. march — the month
  20. march — music
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. field — a subject

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