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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. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. wound — an injury
  3. land — a country
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. land — to come down
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. march — the month
  8. tear — from crying
  9. wound — an injury
  10. spring — the season
  11. march — the month
  12. tear — from crying
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. tear — to rip
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — a coil
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. land — ground
  19. stock — goods
  20. stock — shares
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. march — music
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. wake — a trail

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