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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. Where did you ________________ them?
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — to rob
  2. last — finally
  3. last — final
  4. present — a gift
  5. band — a music group
  6. sharp — clever
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. present — there
  9. present — the time now
  10. march — music
  11. march — the month
  12. mug — a face
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. game — a match
  15. cold — an illness
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. march — the month
  19. last — to go on
  20. mug — a cup
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. game — wild animals
  23. band — a ring
  24. cold — not warm

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