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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 120 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: coach · cold · present · sharp · march · rule · file · pound

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. march — the month
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. present — a gift
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. rule — government
  9. sharp — clever
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. rule — a law
  13. file — a document
  14. pound — a weight
  15. cold — not warm
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. march — music
  18. file — a line of people
  19. present — the time now
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. file — a tool
  22. march — the month
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. present — there

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