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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: wave · march · ball · chest · swing · spell · cold · stick

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. spell — a short time
  3. chest — of your body
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. swing — in golf
  7. ball — a great time
  8. march — music
  9. march — the month
  10. cold — an illness
  11. spell — magic
  12. ball — a dance
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. spell — letters
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. wave — a sudden rise
  20. swing — music
  21. swing — to play on
  22. march — the month
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chest — a box

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