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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. march — the month
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. march — the month
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. kid — child
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. rash — a series
  11. kid — to tease
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. rash — hasty
  15. plane — a tool
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — an illness
  22. march — music
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. sharp — clever

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