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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. band — a ring
  3. pop — music
  4. march — music
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. season — of the year
  7. face — to point toward
  8. drill — a practice
  9. season — in sport
  10. pop — to visit
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. game — a match
  13. face — part of the head
  14. march — the month
  15. face — to confront
  16. last — finally
  17. game — wild animals
  18. drill — army training
  19. pop — soda
  20. band — a music group
  21. march — the month
  22. last — to go on
  23. last — final
  24. drill — the tool

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