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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 band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. fall — to drop
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. tear — from crying
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. stock — goods
  7. cold — not warm
  8. lie — to recline
  9. fall — to drop
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. band — a music group
  12. cold — an illness
  13. march — the month
  14. tear — to rip
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. band — a ring
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. stock — shares
  21. tear — from crying
  22. rush — hurry
  23. march — the month
  24. fall — the season

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