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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. field — a subject
  3. march — the month
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. field — for sport
  6. march — music
  7. wake — a trail
  8. cold — an illness
  9. field — farmland
  10. cue — a signal
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. march — the month
  13. shower — rain
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. bound — tied together
  17. shower — to wash
  18. rule — a law
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. bound — certain
  21. cue — a hint
  22. rule — government
  23. cue — for pool
  24. bound — obliged

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