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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: chest · wound · kid · swing · rule · march · race · charge

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The tickets are free of ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. march — music
  3. swing — music
  4. chest — a box
  5. charge — electricity
  6. swing — to play on
  7. rule — government
  8. march — the month
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wound — an injury
  11. chest — of your body
  12. charge — in control
  13. wound — an injury
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. race — a contest
  16. race — the arms race
  17. charge — a price
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. rule — a law
  21. swing — in golf
  22. kid — to tease
  23. race — humankind
  24. march — the month

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