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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. snap — to click
  3. fall — to drop
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. degree — an amount
  8. mate — a partner
  9. mate — a friend
  10. mate — to breed
  11. march — the month
  12. pitch — completely
  13. fall — the season
  14. cold — not warm
  15. degree — from a university
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. fall — to drop
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. march — the month
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. pitch — a sports field

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