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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 best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. cap — a hat
  3. march — the month
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. wound — an injury
  7. tear — to rip
  8. march — the month
  9. face — to point toward
  10. wound — an injury
  11. root — of a word
  12. rash — hasty
  13. face — to confront
  14. tear — from crying
  15. root — of a plant
  16. tear — from crying
  17. drill — army training
  18. drill — a practice
  19. drill — the tool
  20. root — the cause
  21. cap — of ice
  22. cap — a lid
  23. rash — a series
  24. face — part of the head

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