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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: chest · saw · cold · mate · court · march · key · jam

  1. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — a tight spot
  2. key — the most important part
  3. mate — a friend
  4. key — in music
  5. mate — a partner
  6. march — the month
  7. court — for sport
  8. mate — to breed
  9. key — for a lock
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. chest — a box
  12. chest — of your body
  13. court — of a king
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. court — of law
  18. march — the month
  19. saw — the tool
  20. cold — not warm
  21. march — music
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. saw — the tool
  24. cold — an illness

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