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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. march — the month
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wound — an injury
  6. capital — a city
  7. capital — money
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. rush — hurry
  10. wound — an injury
  11. spell — a short time
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. spell — magic
  14. march — the month
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — an illness
  17. spell — letters
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. march — music
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. chest — a box

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