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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 120 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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. firm — steady
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. firm — a company
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. race — a contest
  7. rock — music
  8. firm — decided
  9. march — the month
  10. swing — music
  11. march — music
  12. cold — an illness
  13. band — a ring
  14. race — the arms race
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. cold — not warm
  17. rock — a stone
  18. cell — in biology
  19. cell — a phone
  20. march — the month
  21. swing — in golf
  22. band — a music group
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. race — humankind

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