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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. pit — a hole
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. march — the month
  5. march — music
  6. swing — in golf
  7. spring — of water
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. pound — a weight
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. cold — an illness
  12. rest — what's left
  13. cold — not warm
  14. rest — what's left
  15. rest — a break
  16. march — the month
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. spring — the season
  19. plane — a tool
  20. pit — in a race
  21. swing — music
  22. spring — a coil
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. cold — the Cold War

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