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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. bound — certain
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. branch — a division
  7. spell — letters
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. march — music
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bat — the animal
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. rash — hasty
  14. march — the month
  15. bound — tied together
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. spell — magic
  18. bound — obliged
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. march — the month
  23. cold — not warm
  24. rash — a series

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