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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  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. bat — for baseball
  2. drill — army training
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. march — music
  6. march — the month
  7. drill — the tool
  8. cold — not warm
  9. drill — a practice
  10. cold — an illness
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. march — the month
  13. branch — a division
  14. squash — the sport
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. key — for a lock
  17. squash — to crush
  18. bat — the animal
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. snap — to click
  22. key — in music
  23. key — the most important part
  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