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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.

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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 band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — not warm
  4. fine — high quality
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. race — humankind
  7. squash — to crush
  8. race — the arms race
  9. march — the month
  10. wind — moving air
  11. shower — rain
  12. squash — the sport
  13. spell — a short time
  14. cold — an illness
  15. fine — all right
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. spell — letters
  20. wind — moving air
  21. shower — to wash
  22. spell — magic
  23. race — a contest
  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