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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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Word bank
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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: march · band · squash · season · pitch · court · race · chest

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. band — a music group
  4. march — music
  5. race — the arms race
  6. race — a contest
  7. court — for sport
  8. march — the month
  9. race — humankind
  10. season — of the year
  11. chest — a box
  12. chest — of your body
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. band — a ring
  15. march — the month
  16. squash — the sport
  17. court — of law
  18. chest — of your body
  19. season — in sport
  20. pitch — completely
  21. court — of a king
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. squash — the vegetable

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