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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: bowl · rash · cold · hand · mark · ball · tear · march

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. march — the month
  8. ball — a great time
  9. tear — to rip
  10. rash — hasty
  11. mark — a grade
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. rash — a series
  15. march — the month
  16. mark — a trace
  17. ball — a dance
  18. tear — from crying
  19. march — music
  20. hand — in cards
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. cold — not warm
  24. tear — from crying

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