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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: season · race · plane · spring · march · kid · band · fall

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. fall — the season
  3. season — in sport
  4. march — music
  5. race — the arms race
  6. spring — the season
  7. fall — to drop
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. kid — child
  11. band — a ring
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. march — the month
  15. band — a music group
  16. kid — to tease
  17. fall — to drop
  18. march — the month
  19. spring — a coil
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. race — humankind
  22. race — a contest
  23. plane — a tool
  24. season — of the year

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