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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. march — music
  3. rash — hasty
  4. hand — help
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. ground — a position
  7. march — the month
  8. field — for sport
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. field — a subject
  12. field — farmland
  13. ground — crushed
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. hand — in cards
  16. shower — to wash
  17. last — final
  18. bulb — for light
  19. last — finally
  20. shower — rain
  21. march — the month
  22. rash — a series
  23. bulb — for light
  24. ground — the earth

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