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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 120 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. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. track — a song
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. rush — hurry
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. swing — to play on
  7. root — the cause
  8. march — the month
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. track — a path
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. cold — not warm
  13. root — of a plant
  14. swing — in golf
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. wound — an injury
  17. track — to keep track
  18. cold — an illness
  19. ball — a dance
  20. ball — a great time
  21. wound — an injury
  22. march — the month
  23. swing — music
  24. march — music

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