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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 120 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. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. wound — an injury
  3. march — music
  4. rest — a break
  5. march — the month
  6. field — a subject
  7. wound — an injury
  8. court — of a king
  9. clip — a video
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. field — for sport
  12. lean — thin
  13. lean — to bend
  14. race — the arms race
  15. field — farmland
  16. clip — for paper
  17. race — humankind
  18. clip — to cut
  19. court — of law
  20. rest — what's left
  21. race — a contest
  22. rest — what's left
  23. march — the month
  24. court — for sport

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