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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. face — to point toward
  4. season — of the year
  5. march — music
  6. tear — to rip
  7. march — the month
  8. march — the month
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. cold — not warm
  11. fine — all right
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. fine — high quality
  15. face — part of the head
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. face — to confront
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. row — a line
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — from crying
  22. row — to paddle
  23. season — in sport
  24. cold — an illness

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