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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: chair · fall · spell · cold · rest · march · band · rush

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. march — the month
  3. spell — letters
  4. band — a music group
  5. spell — a short time
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. rush — hurry
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. spell — magic
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. march — the month
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. fall — the season
  15. rest — what's left
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. fall — to drop
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. chair — a leader
  21. band — a ring
  22. rest — what's left
  23. rest — a break
  24. fall — to drop

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