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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. wound — an injury
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. wound — an injury
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. cold — not warm
  10. field — for sport
  11. cold — an illness
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. march — the month
  14. wake — a trail
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. field — farmland
  18. field — a subject
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. march — the month
  24. nail — on a finger

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