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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. The ________________ took off on time.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. drill — the tool
  3. pit — a hole
  4. bass — the fish
  5. last — final
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. bass — low music
  8. land — to come down
  9. land — ground
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. march — music
  12. last — finally
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. drill — a practice
  15. march — the month
  16. land — a country
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. plane — a tool
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. bat — the animal
  21. pit — in a race
  22. drill — army training
  23. last — to go on
  24. march — the month

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