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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: march · drill · rash · land · season · kid · bulb · squash

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  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. land — ground
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. rash — a series
  4. march — the month
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. rash — hasty
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. bulb — for light
  9. march — music
  10. drill — a practice
  11. land — a country
  12. season — of the year
  13. season — in sport
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. drill — the tool
  16. kid — child
  17. land — to come down
  18. bulb — for light
  19. drill — army training
  20. kid — to tease
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. squash — to crush
  23. squash — the sport
  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