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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. fork — in a road
  3. march — the month
  4. scale — size or range
  5. file — a tool
  6. scale — in music
  7. sharp — clever
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. march — the month
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. last — to go on
  14. kid — to tease
  15. file — a document
  16. kid — child
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. last — finally
  21. last — final
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. file — a line of people
  24. fork — a garden tool

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