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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 120 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. march — music
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. fall — to drop
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — of your body
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — a line
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. kid — to tease
  16. chest — a box
  17. row — to paddle
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. fall — the season
  20. march — the month
  21. fall — to drop
  22. pitch — completely
  23. march — the month
  24. fork — in a road

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