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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. march — music
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. bound — certain
  5. land — to come down
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. rock — a stone
  8. shower — to wash
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. wake — a trail
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bound — tied together
  13. land — a country
  14. shower — rain
  15. bat — the animal
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. rest — what's left
  18. land — ground
  19. rest — what's left
  20. bound — obliged
  21. march — the month
  22. march — the month
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. rest — a break

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