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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. shower — rain
  3. march — the month
  4. chair — a leader
  5. clip — for paper
  6. march — the month
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. march — music
  9. squash — the sport
  10. pop — music
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. pop — soda
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. clip — to cut
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. wound — an injury
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. shower — to wash
  19. pop — to visit
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. clip — a video
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. squash — to crush

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