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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: face · bound · toast · pitch · march · drill · court · cold

  1. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. bound — certain
  3. court — for sport
  4. march — the month
  5. bound — obliged
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pitch — completely
  8. drill — army training
  9. drill — a practice
  10. cold — an illness
  11. face — to point toward
  12. bound — tied together
  13. court — of a king
  14. toast — the most admired
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. drill — the tool
  18. toast — bread
  19. face — to confront
  20. court — of law
  21. march — the month
  22. march — music
  23. face — part of the head
  24. pitch — a sports field

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