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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  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. mine — for digging
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bound — certain
  5. bound — tied together
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. present — the time now
  8. bound — obliged
  9. fork — in a road
  10. present — there
  11. march — the month
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mouse — for a computer
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. cold — not warm
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bat — the animal
  21. march — the month
  22. present — a gift
  23. fork — to eat with
  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