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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: shower · march · last · current · plane · bat · scale · cold

  1. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. current — of water
  3. cold — an illness
  4. march — the month
  5. shower — to wash
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. scale — size or range
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. current — happening now
  11. march — music
  12. shower — rain
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bat — the animal
  15. last — to go on
  16. march — the month
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. current — electric
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. plane — a tool
  22. cold — not warm
  23. last — finally
  24. last — final

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