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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. cue — a hint
  3. file — a line of people
  4. march — the month
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. march — the month
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cue — a signal
  10. drill — army training
  11. cold — an illness
  12. snap — to click
  13. drill — the tool
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. cue — for pool
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. date — the fruit
  19. file — a tool
  20. file — a document
  21. march — music
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. fan — to cool the air

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