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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 116 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.

Make a worksheet

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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. row — a line
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — not warm
  7. march — the month
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. firm — a company
  10. march — music
  11. firm — decided
  12. firm — steady
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. march — the month
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. swing — in golf
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. game — a match
  20. squash — the sport
  21. squash — to crush
  22. game — wild animals
  23. swing — to play on
  24. row — to paddle

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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