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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: fan · cold · march · roll · row · last · object · scale

  1. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. last — final
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. roll — a list
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. march — the month
  8. roll — a cake
  9. scale — in music
  10. last — finally
  11. last — to go on
  12. scale — size or range
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. cold — not warm
  15. march — the month
  16. row — a line
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. object — to protest
  21. object — an aim
  22. cold — an illness
  23. row — to paddle
  24. march — music

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