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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. bass — the fish
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cold — not warm
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. cold — an illness
  7. march — music
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. march — the month
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — to rip
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. kick — in football
  14. march — the month
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. fine — high quality
  19. fine — all right
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. bass — low music
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. kick — with a leg

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