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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. root — of a word
  3. drill — the tool
  4. cold — not warm
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — an illness
  8. root — of a plant
  9. march — the month
  10. root — the cause
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. march — the month
  14. march — music
  15. drill — a practice
  16. drill — army training
  17. rule — government
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. scale — size or range
  22. scale — in music
  23. rule — a law
  24. mouse — for a computer

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