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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: pound · court · fan · racket · swing · bat · march · wound

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. march — music
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. wound — an injury
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. court — of a king
  10. wound — an injury
  11. pound — a weight
  12. swing — in golf
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. swing — to play on
  17. march — the month
  18. court — of law
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. bat — the animal
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. court — for sport
  24. swing — 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