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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. I can't ________________ this cold.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — for spectators
  2. march — the month
  3. last — final
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. tear — to rip
  7. sharp — clever
  8. last — to go on
  9. stand — to bear
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. mine — for digging
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. march — music
  16. branch — a division
  17. tear — from crying
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. spring — of water
  20. last — finally
  21. tear — from crying
  22. march — the month
  23. spring — a coil
  24. spring — the season

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