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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. tear — from crying
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. pop — soda
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. court — of a king
  8. roll — a cake
  9. wind — moving air
  10. march — music
  11. march — the month
  12. wind — moving air
  13. pop — music
  14. court — for sport
  15. march — the month
  16. court — of law
  17. band — a music group
  18. stock — shares
  19. stock — goods
  20. tear — to rip
  21. tear — from crying
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. roll — a list
  24. band — a ring

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