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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cold — an illness
  5. tear — to rip
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. mine — for digging
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. key — for a lock
  10. march — music
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. spell — magic
  15. key — in music
  16. tear — from crying
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. key — the most important part
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. spell — letters
  21. tear — from crying
  22. spell — a short time
  23. march — the month
  24. mine — belonging to me

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