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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: pop · march · clip · cold · toast · racket · rash · wind

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. wind — moving air
  4. toast — bread
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. rash — hasty
  7. march — the month
  8. rash — a series
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. march — music
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. pop — soda
  14. cold — not warm
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. clip — a video
  17. pop — music
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. clip — for paper
  20. wind — moving air
  21. pop — to visit
  22. cold — an illness
  23. clip — to cut
  24. cold — the Cold War

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