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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. cell — a phone
  3. cold — not warm
  4. rush — hurry
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. staff — employees
  7. present — a gift
  8. cold — an illness
  9. game — a match
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. bass — the fish
  14. staff — employees
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. march — music
  17. march — the month
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. staff — a stick
  20. game — wild animals
  21. bass — low music
  22. present — the time now
  23. present — there
  24. cell — in biology

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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