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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. court — for sport
  3. pass — a permit
  4. cold — an illness
  5. ruler — a monarch
  6. march — the month
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. spring — of water
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. court — of a king
  12. cold — not warm
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. spring — the season
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. capital — a city
  19. court — of law
  20. march — the month
  21. spring — a coil
  22. deal — to handle
  23. capital — money
  24. ruler — for measuring

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