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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: suit · wind · march · wound · cell · chest

  1. When will it ________________ you to start?
  2. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — to fit
  2. suit — in cards
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. march — the month
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. cell — a phone
  8. march — music
  9. wound — an injury
  10. march — the month
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — a box
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — moving air
  15. suit — clothes
  16. wound — an injury
  17. cell — in biology
  18. chest — of your body

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