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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: cold · march · mark · firm · bound · bat · straw · scale

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  9. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bat — the animal
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. mark — a grade
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. firm — a company
  9. firm — decided
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. cold — an illness
  13. march — music
  14. bound — tied together
  15. scale — size or range
  16. march — the month
  17. bound — obliged
  18. mark — a trace
  19. firm — steady
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. bound — certain
  22. scale — in music
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. cold — not warm

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