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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: cold · track · tube · charge · hand · march · bat · wind

  1. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. march — the month
  3. track — a path
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. track — to keep track
  7. march — music
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. wind — moving air
  13. march — the month
  14. tube — the underground
  15. tube — a container
  16. track — a song
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. charge — electricity
  19. wind — moving air
  20. bat — the animal
  21. charge — in control
  22. hand — in cards
  23. hand — help
  24. wind — to turn a key

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