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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 116 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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. drill — army training
  6. bound — certain
  7. file — a document
  8. fork — in a road
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. drill — a practice
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. perch — the fish
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. bound — tied together
  17. march — the month
  18. march — music
  19. bound — obliged
  20. file — a tool
  21. file — a line of people
  22. drill — the tool
  23. mine — for digging
  24. hide — to keep secret

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