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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: march · present · leaves · bat · game · cold · ground · key

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. present — a gift
  3. march — music
  4. bat — the animal
  5. ground — crushed
  6. game — wild animals
  7. present — the time now
  8. cold — an illness
  9. march — the month
  10. key — in music
  11. ground — the earth
  12. game — a match
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. ground — a position
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. cold — not warm
  18. key — the most important part
  19. key — for a lock
  20. present — there
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. march — the month

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