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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. content — the amount
  3. march — the month
  4. march — music
  5. cold — an illness
  6. capital — money
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. capital — a city
  9. cold — not warm
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. net — after costs
  13. drill — army training
  14. content — happy
  15. temple — side of the head
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. drill — the tool
  18. net — for catching
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. drill — a practice
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. net — in sport

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