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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: land · march · straw · spring · toast · kick · content · bat

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. spring — a coil
  3. toast — bread
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. march — the month
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. spring — of water
  9. content — happy
  10. land — ground
  11. kick — in football
  12. bat — the animal
  13. land — a country
  14. spring — the season
  15. land — to come down
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. march — the month
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. content — the amount

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