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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. march — the month
  3. rock — a stone
  4. march — music
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. cell — a phone
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. band — a ring
  9. row — a line
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. row — to paddle
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. cell — in biology
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. march — the month
  16. game — wild animals
  17. band — a music group
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. rash — a series
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. game — a match
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. rock — music
  24. band — a rubber band

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