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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: bat · spell · board · march · row · wave · cold · drill

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. march — music
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. drill — the tool
  9. board — to get on
  10. spell — letters
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. spell — magic
  15. board — a committee
  16. drill — a practice
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. row — to paddle
  19. spell — a short time
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. march — the month
  22. march — the month
  23. row — a line
  24. drill — army training

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