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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. My mare is ________________ in color.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. march — the month
  3. chest — a box
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. branch — a division
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bay — a horse colour
  8. saw — the tool
  9. saw — the tool
  10. last — final
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cold — not warm
  13. row — a line
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. bay — to keep at bay
  16. chest — of your body
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. cold — an illness
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. bay — a part of the sea
  21. last — to go on
  22. row — to paddle
  23. march — music
  24. march — the month

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