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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. I can't ________________ this cold.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. ground — crushed
  3. stand — to bear
  4. chest — of your body
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. march — the month
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. rash — hasty
  12. march — the month
  13. march — music
  14. chest — a box
  15. rash — a series
  16. board — a committee
  17. file — a tool
  18. branch — a division
  19. ground — the earth
  20. file — a line of people
  21. file — a document
  22. chest — of your body
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. board — to get on

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