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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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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. degree — from a university
  3. rest — a break
  4. hand — help
  5. march — the month
  6. march — music
  7. march — the month
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. hand — in cards
  11. wound — an injury
  12. degree — an amount
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. bark — to shout
  16. rest — what's left
  17. pit — a hole
  18. rest — what's left
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. degree — temperature
  21. pit — in a race
  22. rash — hasty
  23. rash — a series
  24. bark — of a tree

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