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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. wound — an injury
  3. race — humankind
  4. land — to come down
  5. march — the month
  6. drill — army training
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. race — a contest
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. march — the month
  12. march — music
  13. land — a country
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. drill — a practice
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. race — the arms race
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. perch — the fish
  23. drill — the tool
  24. wound — an injury

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