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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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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: arm · march · cold · mark · prune · bat · rest · season

  1. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. season — in sport
  4. bat — the animal
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. prune — to trim
  10. march — the month
  11. march — the month
  12. prune — to trim
  13. rest — a break
  14. season — of the year
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. mark — a grade
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. rest — what's left
  19. march — music
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. mark — a trace
  24. season — to add flavour

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