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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. season — in sport
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. date — the fruit
  8. cell — in biology
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. hand — help
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cell — a phone
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. march — music
  17. hand — in cards
  18. row — a line
  19. season — of the year
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. row — to paddle
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. march — the month

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