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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. ball — a dance
  4. march — music
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. rush — hurry
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. hand — help
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. march — the month
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. roll — a cake
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. roll — a list
  18. cell — in biology
  19. season — in sport
  20. march — the month
  21. cell — a phone
  22. date — the fruit
  23. season — of the year
  24. date — on the calendar

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