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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. kid — child
  3. march — the month
  4. net — in sport
  5. chest — of your body
  6. capital — a city
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. row — to paddle
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. rock — a stone
  11. stand — to bear
  12. chest — of your body
  13. march — music
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. net — for catching
  16. march — the month
  17. net — after costs
  18. capital — money
  19. rock — to move gently
  20. row — a line
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. kid — to tease
  24. chest — a box

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