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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: club · tear · squash · march · rush · rest · cabinet · cold

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. club — for golf
  3. march — the month
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. tear — from crying
  6. march — music
  7. club — for dancing
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. club — a group
  10. cold — not warm
  11. rest — a break
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. tear — to rip
  15. squash — the sport
  16. tear — from crying
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. squash — to crush
  21. rush — hurry
  22. rest — what's left
  23. march — the month
  24. rest — what's left

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