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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 band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. cold — not warm
  3. march — the month
  4. spell — letters
  5. march — the month
  6. can — a tin
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. cell — a phone
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. plane — a tool
  11. hand — help
  12. hand — in cards
  13. spell — magic
  14. can — to be able to
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. spell — a short time
  18. cell — in biology
  19. bat — the animal
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. can — a tin
  24. plane — an aircraft

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