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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 a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. march — music
  3. march — the month
  4. march — the month
  5. capital — money
  6. present — there
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. chest — of your body
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. cold — not warm
  15. present — the time now
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. chest — a box
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. content — the amount
  20. capital — a city
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. chest — of your body
  23. present — a gift
  24. content — happy

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