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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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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: bat · wave · march · cap · drill · bass · chest · cell

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. march — the month
  3. cap — a hat
  4. drill — army training
  5. cap — a lid
  6. chest — a box
  7. cell — a phone
  8. cell — in biology
  9. chest — of your body
  10. march — the month
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. march — music
  14. chest — of your body
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. drill — the tool
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. drill — a practice
  20. bass — the fish
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bass — low music
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. cap — of ice

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