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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: band · cell · row · march · snap · charge · pitch · drill

  1. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. band — a music group
  3. march — the month
  4. snap — to click
  5. band — a ring
  6. charge — in control
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. march — music
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. drill — army training
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in biology
  15. charge — electricity
  16. drill — the tool
  17. row — to paddle
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. row — a line
  20. march — the month
  21. drill — a practice
  22. pitch — completely
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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