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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. field — for sport
  3. squash — the sport
  4. march — the month
  5. march — music
  6. mark — a trace
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. field — a subject
  9. wake — a trail
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. dip — to sink
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. march — the month
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. cold — not warm
  17. field — farmland
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. cold — an illness
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. mark — a grade
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. squash — to crush
  24. cold — the Cold War

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