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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. band — a music group
  3. drill — army training
  4. drill — a practice
  5. spell — magic
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. roll — a list
  9. band — a ring
  10. chest — of your body
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. chest — a box
  13. spell — letters
  14. march — the month
  15. chest — of your body
  16. roll — a cake
  17. kid — to tease
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. drill — the tool
  21. spell — a short time
  22. march — music
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. kid — child

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