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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 116 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: cold · wind · fall · march · stand · cabinet · bat · mark

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. stand — on your feet
  3. mark — a grade
  4. fall — to drop
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. march — the month
  10. wind — moving air
  11. stand — to bear
  12. march — the month
  13. cold — an illness
  14. fall — to drop
  15. mark — a trace
  16. fall — the season
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. bat — the animal

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