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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. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. chest — a box
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. chest — of your body
  5. stock — goods
  6. drill — the tool
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. chest — of your body
  9. march — the month
  10. march — the month
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. drill — a practice
  14. stock — shares
  15. prune — to trim
  16. cell — a phone
  17. game — wild animals
  18. prune — to trim
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. game — a match
  23. march — music
  24. cell — in biology

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