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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. march — music
  3. chair — a leader
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. last — finally
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. last — final
  10. march — the month
  11. clip — to cut
  12. bat — the animal
  13. last — to go on
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. bank — of a river
  18. clip — for paper
  19. wind — moving air
  20. bank — for money
  21. clip — a video
  22. wind — moving air
  23. bank — for money
  24. bat — in an idiom

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