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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: fan · wind · march · tear · present · court · pound · date

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. court — of a king
  3. date — the fruit
  4. present — a gift
  5. present — there
  6. march — the month
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. march — music
  11. pound — a weight
  12. wind — moving air
  13. court — of law
  14. wind — moving air
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. court — for sport
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — to rip
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. present — the time now
  23. tear — from crying
  24. march — the month

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