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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 · club · wind · roll · patient · rule · key · march

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. club — for golf
  3. key — the most important part
  4. march — music
  5. rule — a law
  6. key — for a lock
  7. wind — moving air
  8. club — a group
  9. march — the month
  10. chest — of your body
  11. roll — a cake
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. roll — a list
  15. key — in music
  16. chest — of your body
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. rule — government
  19. club — for dancing
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. chest — a box
  23. march — the month
  24. rule — to rule out

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