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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. toast — bread
  3. march — the month
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. spell — magic
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. spring — a coil
  8. toast — the most admired
  9. spring — the season
  10. squash — the sport
  11. spring — of water
  12. spell — letters
  13. file — a document
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. file — a line of people
  16. band — a music group
  17. march — the month
  18. file — a tool
  19. band — a ring
  20. bat — the animal
  21. squash — to crush
  22. march — music
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. spell — a short time

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