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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 116 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: pound · land · cold · squash · ball · capital · march · rash

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. march — the month
  3. ball — a dance
  4. capital — money
  5. squash — to crush
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. capital — a city
  8. rash — a series
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. land — a country
  11. land — to come down
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. squash — the sport
  14. march — the month
  15. march — music
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pound — a weight
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. land — ground
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. cold — not warm
  24. ball — a great time

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