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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. present — the time now
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. stock — goods
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. ground — a position
  7. stock — shares
  8. degree — an amount
  9. capital — money
  10. ground — crushed
  11. ground — the earth
  12. band — a ring
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. march — the month
  15. present — a gift
  16. capital — a city
  17. band — a music group
  18. kid — to tease
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. degree — temperature
  21. kid — child
  22. present — there
  23. degree — from a university
  24. march — the month

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