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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 120 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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. march — music
  3. squash — the sport
  4. race — a contest
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. court — of a king
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. tear — from crying
  9. march — the month
  10. tear — from crying
  11. court — for sport
  12. squash — to crush
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. fall — the season
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. race — the arms race
  17. fall — to drop
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. race — humankind
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. court — of law
  22. fall — to drop
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. tear — to rip

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