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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. swing — music
  4. spell — letters
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. wound — an injury
  7. spell — a short time
  8. wound — an injury
  9. swing — to play on
  10. march — the month
  11. spell — magic
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. roll — a list
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — happy
  16. fall — the season
  17. fall — to drop
  18. bat — the animal
  19. swing — in golf
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. march — music
  23. fall — to drop
  24. roll — a cake

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