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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. row — a line
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. march — music
  6. march — the month
  7. field — for sport
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. field — farmland
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. club — a group
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. degree — from a university
  14. cell — a phone
  15. field — a subject
  16. club — for golf
  17. content — happy
  18. degree — an amount
  19. march — the month
  20. degree — temperature
  21. club — for dancing
  22. content — the amount
  23. row — to paddle
  24. cell — in biology

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