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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. fine — high quality
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. tear — from crying
  5. march — music
  6. band — a music group
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. wound — an injury
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. row — to paddle
  13. wound — an injury
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — to rip
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. march — the month
  18. march — the month
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. band — a ring
  21. branch — a division
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. row — a line

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