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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: fan · toast · cap · cold · race · march · drill · net

  1. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  15. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. cap — a lid
  3. drill — army training
  4. net — in sport
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cap — a hat
  7. drill — a practice
  8. cap — of ice
  9. net — for catching
  10. net — after costs
  11. march — music
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. race — a contest
  14. toast — bread
  15. toast — a drink to someone
  16. race — the arms race
  17. race — humankind
  18. drill — the tool
  19. march — the month
  20. cold — an illness
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. march — the month
  24. fan — to cool the air

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