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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. march — the month
  3. game — a match
  4. cold — not warm
  5. fork — in a road
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. race — humankind
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. track — to keep track
  11. race — the arms race
  12. saw — the tool
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. game — wild animals
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bass — low music
  17. march — music
  18. march — the month
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. bass — the fish
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. saw — the tool
  23. race — a contest
  24. track — a path

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