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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. When will it ________________ you to start?
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. suit — clothes
  3. cold — not warm
  4. squash — the sport
  5. spring — the season
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. spring — of water
  9. wind — moving air
  10. spring — a coil
  11. suit — to fit
  12. march — the month
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. cold — an illness
  15. squash — to crush
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. suit — in cards
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. clip — a video
  24. march — music

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