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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. march — music
  4. chest — a box
  5. cold — an illness
  6. rash — hasty
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. march — the month
  10. drill — army training
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cold — not warm
  14. drill — the tool
  15. present — there
  16. march — the month
  17. drill — a practice
  18. present — a gift
  19. chest — of your body
  20. present — the time now
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. pitch — completely
  24. rash — a series

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