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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: cold · land · mark · row · sharp · band · spring · march

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. mark — a trace
  3. sharp — clever
  4. march — music
  5. spring — of water
  6. spring — a coil
  7. mark — a grade
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. row — to paddle
  10. row — a line
  11. march — the month
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. land — ground
  18. land — to come down
  19. march — the month
  20. cold — not warm
  21. band — a ring
  22. land — a country
  23. band — a music group
  24. cold — an illness

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