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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: fan · march · cold · wound · scale · roll · file · rush

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. roll — a list
  3. rush — hurry
  4. file — a line of people
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. scale — in music
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. file — a tool
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. wound — an injury
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — an illness
  13. file — a document
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. march — the month
  17. wound — an injury
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. march — the month
  20. march — music
  21. roll — a cake
  22. scale — size or range
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. cold — the Cold War

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